In Search of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroids in the Taurid Resonant Swarm

The Taurid Complex is a large interplanetary system that contains comet 2P/Encke, several meteoroid streams, and possibly a number of near-Earth asteroids. The size and nature of the system have led to the speculation that it was formed through a large-scale cometary breakup. Numerical investigation...

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Main Authors: Jasmine Li, Quanzhi Ye, Denis Vida, David L. Clark, Eric C. Bellm, Richard Dekany, Matthew J. Graham, Frank J. Masci, Josiah Purdum, Benjamin Racine, Avery Wold
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Planetary Science Journal
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/adbe74
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author Jasmine Li
Quanzhi Ye
Denis Vida
David L. Clark
Eric C. Bellm
Richard Dekany
Matthew J. Graham
Frank J. Masci
Josiah Purdum
Benjamin Racine
Avery Wold
author_facet Jasmine Li
Quanzhi Ye
Denis Vida
David L. Clark
Eric C. Bellm
Richard Dekany
Matthew J. Graham
Frank J. Masci
Josiah Purdum
Benjamin Racine
Avery Wold
author_sort Jasmine Li
collection DOAJ
description The Taurid Complex is a large interplanetary system that contains comet 2P/Encke, several meteoroid streams, and possibly a number of near-Earth asteroids. The size and nature of the system have led to the speculation that it was formed through a large-scale cometary breakup. Numerical investigations have suggested that planetary dynamics can create a resonant region with a large number of objects concentrated in a small segment of the orbit, known as the Taurid swarm, which approaches the Earth in certain years and provides favorable conditions for studying the Taurid Complex. Recent meteor observations confirmed the existence of the swarm for millimeter- to meter-sized objects. Here we present a dedicated telescopic search for potentially hazardous asteroids and other macroscopic objects in the Taurid swarm using the Zwicky Transient Facility survey. We determine from our nondetection that there are no more than 9–14 H ≤ 24 (equivalent to a diameter of D  ≳ 100 m) objects in the swarm, suggesting that the Encke–Taurid progenitor was  ∼10 km in size. A progenitor of such a size is compatible with the prediction of state-of-the-art solar system dynamical models, which expects  ∼0.1 D  > 10 km objects on Encke-like orbits at any given time.
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spelling doaj-art-d3bba8303cc34bdaaa398082bebac6f92025-08-20T03:10:42ZengIOP PublishingThe Planetary Science Journal2632-33382025-01-01649410.3847/PSJ/adbe74In Search of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroids in the Taurid Resonant SwarmJasmine Li0Quanzhi Ye1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4838-7676Denis Vida2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4166-8704David L. Clark3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1203-764XEric C. Bellm4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8018-5348Richard Dekany5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5884-7867Matthew J. Graham6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3168-0139Frank J. Masci7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8532-9395Josiah Purdum8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1227-3738Benjamin Racine9https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8861-3052Avery Wold10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9998-6732Poolesville High School , Poolesville, MD 20837, USA ; li.jasmine.q@gmail.comDepartment of Astronomy, University of Maryland , College Park, MD 20742, USA; Center for Space Physics, Boston University , 725 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario , London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada; Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, University of Western Ontario , London, Ontario N6A 5B8, CanadaDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario , London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada; Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, University of Western Ontario , London, Ontario N6A 5B8, CanadaDIRAC Institute, Department of Astronomy, University of Washington , 3910 15th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98195, USACaltech Optical Observatories, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USADivision of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USAIPAC , California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USACaltech Optical Observatories, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USAAix Marseille Université , CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, Marseille, FranceIPAC , California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USAThe Taurid Complex is a large interplanetary system that contains comet 2P/Encke, several meteoroid streams, and possibly a number of near-Earth asteroids. The size and nature of the system have led to the speculation that it was formed through a large-scale cometary breakup. Numerical investigations have suggested that planetary dynamics can create a resonant region with a large number of objects concentrated in a small segment of the orbit, known as the Taurid swarm, which approaches the Earth in certain years and provides favorable conditions for studying the Taurid Complex. Recent meteor observations confirmed the existence of the swarm for millimeter- to meter-sized objects. Here we present a dedicated telescopic search for potentially hazardous asteroids and other macroscopic objects in the Taurid swarm using the Zwicky Transient Facility survey. We determine from our nondetection that there are no more than 9–14 H ≤ 24 (equivalent to a diameter of D  ≳ 100 m) objects in the swarm, suggesting that the Encke–Taurid progenitor was  ∼10 km in size. A progenitor of such a size is compatible with the prediction of state-of-the-art solar system dynamical models, which expects  ∼0.1 D  > 10 km objects on Encke-like orbits at any given time.https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/adbe74Near-Earth objects
spellingShingle Jasmine Li
Quanzhi Ye
Denis Vida
David L. Clark
Eric C. Bellm
Richard Dekany
Matthew J. Graham
Frank J. Masci
Josiah Purdum
Benjamin Racine
Avery Wold
In Search of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroids in the Taurid Resonant Swarm
The Planetary Science Journal
Near-Earth objects
title In Search of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroids in the Taurid Resonant Swarm
title_full In Search of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroids in the Taurid Resonant Swarm
title_fullStr In Search of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroids in the Taurid Resonant Swarm
title_full_unstemmed In Search of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroids in the Taurid Resonant Swarm
title_short In Search of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroids in the Taurid Resonant Swarm
title_sort in search of the potentially hazardous asteroids in the taurid resonant swarm
topic Near-Earth objects
url https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/adbe74
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