The II Canis Minorids—a New Meteor Stream probably associated with Comet Mellish 1917 I

Abstract

WE have detected a new meteor stream complex, active between solar longitudes λ⊙ = 257° and 262°, with a true radiant some 3° north-west of 11 Canis Minor. The stream was first recorded on the morning of December 10, 1964. During visual watches with a richest field 5-inch telescope, positional data were recorded for meteors in the range from magnitude +6 to +12 (ref. 1). Five meteors, originally classified as sporadic, were found to be radiating from an observed centre at right ascension (α) 115.8 ± 1.2°, declination (δ) = +13.0 ± 0.8°. Statistical tests indicate that the probability of this radiant being due to the chance lining up of sporadic meteors is only 1 in 10⁴. No velocity measurements were available and so orbital elements were computed using Porter's method², initially assuming parabolic motion. Corrections to the observed radiant for diurnal aberration and zenithal attraction were small, the resulting parabolic orbit being highly inclined with a remarkably small perihelion distance.