The Geminid meteor stream and asteroid 3200 Phaethon

Four aspects of the Geminid meteor stream are reinvestigated. First, a search is conducted through all the observational data held at the IAU Meteor Data Center, in order to obtain the most complete sample possible of the Geminid meteors and hence to obtain refined orbital data. Secondly, the orbital evolution of Phaethon and the evolution of the mean Geminid orbit are calculated over 17 000 yr and found to be very similar. Thirdly, the general features of the stream cross-section are derived for four different formation models, and finally the effects of planetary perturbations upon some of these models are investigated. A new theoretical model is produced which assumes that the parent of the stream is asteroid 3200 Phaethon, or at least a progenitor of that body. The results obtained from the model are in good agreement with the observations.

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