Meteor orbits and impacts

David Garfinkle and Alberto G. Rojo

Citation: American Journal of Physics 82, 1130 (2014); doi: 10.1119/1.4896575

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.4896575
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 Meteor orbits and impacts
David Garfinklea) and Alberto G. Rojob)
Department of Physics, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan 48309
(Received 18 June 2013; accepted 16 September 2014)
We study the motion of meteors and calculate the speed at which they hit the Earth. The calculation
is done in a rotating system where the Earth and the Sun are at rest. Our treatment is a pedagogical
account of some well established celestial mechanics results, suited for presentation in an
intermediate mechanics course. The impact speed of meteors in several regularly occurring meteor
showers agree very well with our calculation. VC 2014 American Association of Physics Teachers.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.4896575]

v2r GME GMS x2  2 

“Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun.” E¼    x þ y2 ; (2)
2 r2 r1 2
Stephen L. Schwartz, Wicked.1
where r1 is the meteor-Sun distance, r2 the meteor-Earth dis-
I. INTRODUCTION tance, and ME the mass of the Earth. Since we are in a frame
Meteors impact the Earth with velocities that range from v r is the relative velocity of the
that rotates with the Earth, ~
16 km/s to 72 km/s. Why? In this paper, we present an an- meteor with respect to the Earth. When the meteor is very
swer to this question using a self contained explanation that far from the Earth, one can neglect the gravitational influ-
can be of pedagogical use in intermediate mechanics ence of the Earth and the meteor’s motion is therefore well
courses. Finding the impact velocity seems at first a compli- approximated by the elliptical orbit that it would have if only
cated problem, since the meteor is subject to the gravitational the Sun acted on it. As the meteor approaches the Earth, the
influence of both the Earth and the Sun. However, since the influence of the gravitational potential of the Earth becomes
Earth is (to a very good approximation) in a circular orbit, noticeable, and the orbit will deviate from the ellipse, but E
there is a constant of motion for the meteor: the energy in will remain constant.
the rotating frame. The presence of this constant of motion We are interested in the impact velocity vI when the
makes the calculation of impact speeds appropriate in an in- meteor is at a distance r2 ’ RE ; r1 ’ rO ; x2 þ y2 ¼ rO2 . Here,
termediate level mechanics course. We compare our calcula- RE is the radius of the Earth. Expressing E in terms of these
tions to the impact speeds of meteors in several regularly quantities, we obtain
occurring meteor showers and demonstrate excellent agree-
v2I GME GMS x2 2 v2I GME 3 GMS
ment with the observed impact speeds. Our result can also be E¼    r ¼   ;
used to calculate the escape velocity from the solar system, a 2 RE rO 2 O 2 RE 2 rO
problem that was treated using a different method in this (3)
journal.2–4
where we have used Eq. (1) for x. For a point in the orbit far
II. METEOR IMPACT enough from the Earth, we can neglect its gravitational influ-
ence. If the velocity and position of the meteor are ~v f and
Consider the motion of a meteor of mass m in a frame that r f ¼ ðxf ; yf ; zf Þ, we get
~
rotates at an angular velocity x, the rotational velocity of the
Earth around the Sun given by v2f GMS x2  2 
E¼   x þ y2f (4)
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 2 rf 2 f
MS G
x¼ ; (1) from Eq. (2). Now, we can express ~ v f in terms of the corre-
rO3
sponding inertial frame velocity ~ v a and position ~ ra
¼ ðxa ; ya ; za Þ at the distant point as
where MS is the Sun’s mass and rO is the radius of the
Earth’s orbit around the Sun. In the inertial frame in v2f ¼ ð~
va  x r a Þ2
~ ~
which the Earth is moving, the meteor’s motion takes
place in the presence of a time-dependent potential, and ¼ v2a  2~
v a  ð~ r a Þ þ x2 ðx2a þ y2a Þ:
x ~ (5)
the energy of the meteor (kinetic plus potential) is not a
constant of motion. In the rotating frame, the Earth Substituting Eq. (5) in Eq. (4), and using
and the Sun (neglecting the rotation of the Earth around rf ¼ ra ; x2a þ y2a ¼ x2f þ y2f , and ~
v a  ð~
x ~
r aÞ ¼ x
~  ð~
r a ~
vaÞ
its axis) are at rest, and the energy is a constant of we obtain
motion. The effect of the rotation manifests itself
through the addition of the centrifugal potential given by v2a GMS
E¼  ~  ð~
x v a Þ ¼ e  x‘ cos h;
r a ~ (6)
V ¼ mx2(x2 þ y2)/2, where we assume that the angular 2 ra
velocity of the Earth’s orbit is along the z-axis, and the
variables x, y, and z refer to the meteor’s coordinates in where e is the energy per unit mass of the meteor’s orbit, ‘
the rotating frame. its angular momentum per unit mass, and h the inclination of
If we call E the energy per unit mass of the meteor in the the orbit—the angle between the axes of rotation of the
rotating frame, we have Earth’s and the meteor’s orbits around the Sun.

1130 Am. J. Phys. 82 (12), December 2014 http://aapt.org/ajp C 2014 American Association of Physics Teachers
V 1130

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 (   )1=2
We make two notes here. First, that the individual (x, y)
2GME GMS 1 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 
components of the position vector in the two frames are dif- vI ¼ þ 3 þ2cosh Að12 Þ :
ferent, but the magnitudes are the same. And second, in the RE rO A
celestial mechanics literature, the symbol i is used for the in- (13)
clination; we find h to be in better accordance with the inter-
mediate mechanics nomenclature. The quantity e  x‘ cos h It is interesting that the term in square brackets in our Eq.
in Eq. (6) appears in the celestial mechanics literature as the (13) appears in Opik’s€ book on interplanetary encounters8
Jacobi constant6 or Tisserand parameter.7 The orbit of a ce- as an “imaginary encounter or collision velocity (U), (in
lestial object of negligible mass can change during its pas- case the encounter takes place), when there is no significant
sage close to a planet in a circular orbit. During that passage gravitational interaction between the encountering par-
the energy e, the angular momentum ‘, and the inclination h ticles, one in an arbitrary orbit, the other on a ‘standard’ cir-
(measured in the inertial frame) will change to e0 ; ‘0 and h0 cular orbit, both ruled exclusively by the gravitational field
such that e  x‘ cos h ¼ e0  x‘0 cos h0 . Equating the expres- of the Sun.” We can write our impact velocity in terms of U
sions for E from Eqs. (3), Eq. (5) we obtain pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
and another ideal velocity ve ¼ 2GME =RE , the escape ve-
locity of the particle from the gravitational field of the
GME GMS
v2I ¼ 2 þ3 þ 2ðe  x‘ cos hÞ: (7) Earth; the result is
RE rO
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
vI ¼ v2e þ U 2 : (14)
To compare our expression with observational data, we need
to express e and ‘ for the meteor in terms of the orbit’s geo-
metric parameters. The relevant expression is known in the Noting that G ¼ 6.67  1011 N m2/kg2, MS ¼ 1.99  1030 kg,
celestial mechanics literature as the vis viva equation.5 We ME ¼ 5.97  1024 kg, rO ¼ 1.50  1011 m, and RE ¼ 6.38
present a simple derivation for completeness.  106 m, it then follows that
For an elliptical orbit, the motion takes place between two rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
extremal radii rmin and rmax, the turning points of the orbit. 2GME
¼ 11:2 km=s (15)
Equating the energies at these two points and calling va and RE
vb, the meteor velocities at r ¼ rmin and r ¼ rmax, respec-
tively, we have and
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
GMS v2a GMS v2b GMS
e¼ þ ¼ þ : (8) ¼ 29:7 km=s: (16)
rmin 2 rmax 2 rO

r ~
Also, since ~ v vanishes at the turning points, the magnitude Therefore, Eq. (12) can be written as
of the angular momentum is simply  
1 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 
1=2
‘ ¼ va rmin ¼ vb rmax : (9) vI ¼ 29:7 km=s 3:14  þ 2 cos h Að1  2 Þ :
A
Using Eqs. (8) and (9), with a little algebra, we obtain (17)

GMS Note that Eq. (12) simplifies if the meteor comes from suffi-
e¼ (10) ciently far out in the solar system so that rmax  rO. In this
rmin þ rmax
case, we find
and 8 sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 91=2
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi < =
2rmin
2GMS rmin rmax vI ¼ 29:7 km=s 3:14  2 cos h : (18)
‘¼ : (11) : rO ;
rmin þ rmax

One interesting aspect of the above equations is that the Thus, for meteors described by Eq. (18), it follows that the
energy depends on the semi-major axis a ¼ (rmin þ rmax)/2 of maximum impact velocity occurs for rmin ¼ rO and h ¼ p
the orbit but not on the orbit’s eccentricity , defined as and is
rmin ¼ a(1  ) and rmax ¼ a(1 þ ).
Combining Eqs. (10) and (11) with Eq. (7) and using Eq. vImax ¼ 72:6 km=s; (19)
(1) for x, we obtain
while the minimum impact velocity occurs for rmin ¼ rO and
   h ¼ 0 and is given by
2GME GMS 2rO
vI ¼ þ 3
RE rO rmin þ rmax vImin ¼ 16:6 km=s: (20)
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 

1=2
2rmin rmax
þ 2 cos h ; (12) This last result immediately gives the solution of a seem-
rO ðrmin þ rmax Þ
ingly unrelated problem: the escape velocity of the solar
system. A spaceship that starts from the surface of the
or, expressed in terms of the semi-major axis A in astronomi- Earth and barely escapes the solar system follows a trajec-
cal units (A ¼ a/rO), tory that is the time reverse of the trajectory of one of our

1131 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 82, No. 12, December 2014 D. Garfinkle and A. G. Rojo 1131

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 Table I. Comparison of observed impact velocities vI, obs for different meteor showers with our theoretical velocities vI computed from Eq. (12).9

Shower Comet of origin h rmin/rO rmax/rO vI (km/s) vI, obs (km/s)

Quadrantid 2003 EH1 70.98 1.19 5.06 41.06 41.36

Lyrid C/1861 G1 Thatcher 79.78 0.92 111.0 48.24 47.6
Eta Aquarid 1P/Halley 162.38 0.856 35.1 67.2 65.0
Delta Aquarid 96P Macholz (suspected)10 59.98 0.12 5.9 45.2 42.3
Perseid 109P/Swift-Tuttle 113.458 0.959 51.22 60.82 59.49
October Draconid 21P/Giacobini-Zinner 31.88 1.038 6.014 22.9 20.4
Orionid 1P/Halley 162.38 0.856 35.1 67.2 66.5
Andromedid 3D/Biela 13.28 0.88 6.19 19.7 17.2
Leonid 55P/Tempel-Tuttle 162.58 0.976 19.7 70.56 70.66
Geminid 3200 Phaethon 22.248 0.14 2.4 35.14 34.58

meteors, in the limit as rmax ! 1. The speed of the space-
ship on launch is thus given by Eq. (18). The minimum
such launch speed—the escape velocity of the solar sys-
tem—is therefore given by Eq. (20). The solar system
escape velocity was treated by Hendel,2 who divided the
motion into an initial time period where the influence of the
Sun can be neglected and a later time period where the
influence of the Earth can be neglected. The result of Ref. 2
agrees with our Eq. (20).
The analysis of the maximum and minimum impact veloc-
ity in the more general case of meteors described by Eq. (13)
is a little more complicated and goes as follows. First con-
sider the minimum impact velocity. It follows from Eq. (14)
that vI  ve with equality if U ¼ 0. But it is clear intuitively
that we can make U ¼ 0, and thus vI ¼ ve, simply by choosing
the orbit of the meteor to be the same as that of the Earth.
This intuition is verified by using Eq. (13) and choosing
A ¼ 1,  ¼ 0, and h ¼ 0. We thus find that the minimum value
of the impact velocity is
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2GME
vImin ¼ ¼ 11:2 km=s; (21)
RE
which is equal to the escape velocity from the Earth. To find
the maximum impact velocity, first note that this requires
h ¼ p in Eq. (12). Then, differentiating the square of Eq. (12)
with respect to rmax we find
"   rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi #
@  2 2GMS rmin 3=2 rmin þ rmax
v ¼ 1þ :
@rmax I ðrmin þ rmax Þ2 rO 2rmax
(22)
However, the right hand side of Eq. (22) is positive. This
means that we can always increase the impact velocity by
increasing rmax. In physical terms, the maximum impact ve-
locity occurs for meteors that come from far away. But these
are precisely the meteors that are well described by Eq. (18).
Therefore, even in the general case of meteors described by
Eq. (12), the maximum impact velocity is still given by Eq.
(19) (this, of course, for meteors that are bound to the Sun in
elliptical orbits).
III. METEOR SHOWERS AND COMET ORBITS
To apply Eqs. (17) or (18) to predict the impact velocity
of a meteor, one would need to know the orbital parameters
of the meteor. However, most meteors are sufficiently small
that they are not noticed (much less recorded and tracked)
before they hit the Earth. Nonetheless, many regularly occur-
ring meteor showers are associated with comets and share
the orbital parameters of the comet they are associated with.
It is therefore possible to use the formulas of the previous
section to predict the impact speed of the meteors in these
showers. The reason for the association is that the meteors
are debris that were once part of the comet. It is for this rea-
son that the showers are regularly occurring: small relative
velocities between the meteors and the associated comet
spreads the meteors out over the orbit of the comet. The
meteor shower occurs when the Earth crosses the orbit of the
comet. In Table 1 and in Fig. 1, we show a comparison, with
very good agreement, between our calculation and the most
frequent meteor showers.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Fred Adams and Diego
Janches for helpful discussions. This work was partially
supported by NSF Grant Nos. PHY-0855532 and PHY-
1205202 to Oakland University.
a)
Electronic mail: garfinkl@oakland.edu
b)
Electronic mail: rojo@oakland.edu
1
From the song For Good, in Wicked: A new musical, music & lyrics
by Stephen Schwartz (Hal Leonard Corporation, Wisconsin, 2003),
Fig. 1. A comparison of the data of Table 1 with those of Eq. (18), using the p. 105.
2
meteor showers for which rmax > 6rO. A. Z. Hendel, “Solar escape,” Am. J. Phys. 51, 746–748 (1983).

1132 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 82, No. 12, December 2014 D. Garfinkle and A. G. Rojo 1132

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 3
A. Z. Hendel and M. J. Longo, “Comparing solutions for the solar escape 8 €
problem,” Am. J. Phys. 56, 82–85 (1988).
4 9
V. J. Menon and D. C. Agrawal, “Solar escape revisited,” Am. J. Phys. 54,
752–753 (1986).
5
See, for example, C. D. Murray and S. F. Dermott, Solar System Dynamics
(Cambridge U.P., Cambridge, 2006), p. 31.
6 10
See Ref. 5, pp. 68–74.
7
D. Merritt, Dynamics and Evolution of Galactic Nuclei (Princeton U.P.,
Princeton, New Jersey, 2013), p. 477.
Ernst Julius Opik, Interplanetary Encounters: Close-range Gravitational
Interactions (Elsevier, Amsterdam & NY, 1976) p. 23.
The data for the parent body of the meteor shower, as well as the impact veloc-
ity, was taken from the Meteor Data Center <http://www.astro.amu.edu.pl>,
and the information for the inclination h, perihelion rmin, and aphelion rmax
was taken from <http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov>.
Our calculation of vI assumes that the parent body is (the sus-
pected) 96P Macholz. Our calculation is consistent with the
suspicion.

1133 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 82, No. 12, December 2014 D. Garfinkle and A. G. Rojo 1133

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