Long-term dynamical evolution of the brightest bolides

Authors:

• Tadeusz Jopek,
• P. Farinella,
• Ch. Froeschlé,
• R. Gonczi

Abstract

We have integrated backwards in time the orbits of 17 very bright bolides - including four associated with meteorite finds - over a time span of 1 Myr or more. The results show dynamical mechanisms and evolutionary patterns fairly similar to those recently found for near-Earth asteroids, including frequent solar collisions, the widespread influence of secular resonances, some cases of comet-like hyperbolic ejections by Jupiter, and others of "slow-track" evolution driven by random encounters with the inner planets. This suggests that the sources for km-sized NEAs and metre-sized meteoroids are probably the same, and that the two types of bodies just sample different parts of the size distribution of a population of interplanetary objects with common dynamical features. The results of our integrations appear also consistent with the idea that ordinary chondrites come from the inner part of the main asteroid belt.