Mass Injection Rate from Jupiter-Family Comets into the Interplanetary Space

Abstract

We present evidence that Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) supply substantial materials into the interplanetary space. Nine JFCs were observed by ground-based telescopes with optical CCD cameras. The obtained images were compared with the semi-analytical dynamical model of the dust particles emitted with none-zero velocities. It is found that all of these comets emitted big particles (>1mm) within 2 AU, and injected their mass at the rate of 23 kg/s on average. We suggest that JFCs constitute a significant fraction of the total mass of interplanetary dust particles. Another finding is that the maximum size of the particles from nuclei is likely to depend on the perihelion distance. Around the Earth orbit, several centimeter-sized particles could be released from JFCs, which might be observable as fireball on earth.