Motions of dust particles ejected from a comet with application to Leonid meteoroid

Abstract

An analytical expression for the orbit of a dust particle ejected from a comet is derived as the two-body problem by including solar radiation pressure effects. Then deviations of the semi-major axis, the eccentricity and the epoch of the perihelion passage of the particle from those of the comet are expressed as functions of a parameter depending on the ejection velocity, the size of the particle and the true anomaly at the ejection point. Furthermore, numerical values are computed for comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle which has produced Leonid meteor showers. Finally, perturbations due to Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus are roughly computed and an idea to predict meteor showers is proposed.