In our paper currently in press in MNRAS (see below the link) we introduce our study of the extraordinary superbolide "Belmonte de Tajo" (SPMN130712) that overflew the center of Spain on July 13, 2012. We have found that it exhibited a Halley Type Comet (HTC) orbit with perihelion between Saturn and Uranus orbits. On dynamical grounds, these orbits correspond to either HTCs or Long Period Comets (LPCs), but we found that the meteoroid exhibited a much higher tensile strength than the expected for such comets. Interestingly, there are other minor bodies in the Solar System which follow HTC orbits: the Damocloids, whose archetypal object is 5335 Damocles. The Tisserand parameter with respect to Jupiter of this small family is not larger than 2, so they can be easily recognized. According to the JPL Small Body Database only 88 minor bodies are currently identified as damocloid candidates.
D. Jewitt and Y. Fernández has considered the damocloids as nuclei of dead JFCs and LPCs and might be depleted in volatiles. An alternative scenario to explain the origin of the damocloids proposed by Gomes and Morbidelli teams is that the source of some of these bodies is probably associated with the sweeping resonances found in the Nice model due to the movement of Jupiter and Saturn about 4.1 to 3.9 Gyrs ago that originated powerful orbital resonances in the asteroid belt, causing a mass depletion of bodies in its interior as proposed by W. Bottke et al. (explaining e.g. the Late Heavy Bombardment or LHB over the Moon). Consequently, the dynamic evolution and disruption of asteroids in these unusual high-inclination orbits could be the source of the damocloids, and we predict that these bodies can be a significant source of impact hazard, and capable to deliver rare chondrites in the right geometric circumstances. Fortunately the current population of Damocloids moving in HTC orbits could be a minor remnant of the available in the past due because they were mostly destined to bombard the terrestrial planets shortly after the LHB. In my opinion, our event demonstrates that undetected Damocloids exist, and must be considered to assess Earth's impact hazard. Looking for a productive debate!
http://arxiv.org/abs/1310.0482
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Indexes