Related papers: Palaeolithic extinctions and the Taurid Complex
We present a new numerical model of the eta-Aquariid and Orionid meteor showers. The model investigates the origin, variability and age of the eta-Aquariid and Orionid apparitions from 1985 to the present day, in order to forecast their…
High energy cosmic ray jets from nearby mergers or accretion induced collapse (AIC) of neutron stars (NS) that hit the atmosphere can produce lethal fluxes of atmospheric muons at ground level, underground and underwater, destroy the ozone…
Understanding the origin of comets requires knowledge of how the Solar System formed from a cloud of dust and gas 4.567 Gyr ago. Here, a review is presented of how the remnants of this formation process, meteorites and to a lesser extent…
Drain away the earth's oceans and a global pattern of great ridges appears. Adjacent to these continental and undersea mountain ranges are layers of silt and clay, so thick that they fill the gaps between ridges, creating extensive…
Jupiter-family Comet D/1770 L1 (Lexell) was the first discovered Near-Earth Object (NEO), and passed the Earth on 1770 Jul 1 at a recorded distance of 0.015 au. The comet was subsequently lost due to unfavorable observing circumstances…
We present observations of the disintegrating long-period comet C/2019 J2 (Palomar) taken to determine the nature of the object and the cause of its demise. The data are consistent with break-up of a sub-kilometer nucleus into a debris…
By using recent observations of the Dydimos-Dimorphos system from the Hubble Space Telescope, 37 boulders with a size of 4 to 7 meters ejected from the system during the impact with the DART spacecraft were identified. In this work, we…
At least one large-body (diameter > 1.1 km) hypervelocity cratering event occurred during ~ 0.8-0.90 Ma (Zhamanshin, Kazakhstan) in the Middle Pleistocene Transition period. Analysis designed to reduce uncertainty in the dimensions of the…
White dwarfs are routinely observed to have polluted atmospheres, and sometimes significant infrared excesses, that indicate ongoing accretion of circumstellar dust and rocky debris. Typically this debris is assumed to be in the form of a…
The physical basis of chaos in the solar system is now better understood: in all cases investigated so far, chaotic orbits result from overlapping resonances. Perhaps the clearest examples are found in the asteroid belt. Overlapping…
An unexpected intense outburst of the Draconid meteor shower was detected by the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR) on October 8, 2012. The peak flux occurred at ~16:40 UT on October 8 with a maximum of 2.4 +/- 0.3 hr-1 km-2 (appropriate to…
We present numerical simulations to model the production of observable long-period comets (LPCs) from the Oort Cloud, a vast reservoir of icy bodies surrounding the Sun. We show that inner Oort Cloud objects can penetrate Jupiter's orbit…
We analyse the population of near-Earth Long-Period Comets (LPCs) (perihelion distances q < 1.3 AU and orbital periods P > 10^3 yr). We have considered the sample of LPCs discovered during the period 1900-2009 and their estimated absolute…
Based on the intensity and rates of various kinds of intense ionizing radiation events such as supernovae and gamma-ray bursts, it is likely that the Earth has been subjected to one or extinction level events during the Phanerozoic. These…
We present the history of investigation of the dynamical properties of pairs and groups of genetically related long-period comets (other than the Kreutz sungrazing system). Members of a comet pair or group move in nearly identical orbits…
Meteors can be classified into either sporadic meteors or showery meteors. We compile the meteor records in the astronomical archives in the Chronicle of the Koryo dynasty (918-1392), and investigate the spatial distribution of meteor…
Current theories of particle physics lead to the unavoidable conclusion that there must have been several phase transitions in the early universe. Further, in the context of these theories, it is possible that cosmological phase transitions…
(155140) 2005 UD has a similar orbit to (3200) Phaethon, an active asteroid in a highly eccentric orbit thought to be the source of the Geminid meteor shower. Evidence points to a genetic relationship between these two objects, but we have…
Cosmic collisions on planets cause detectable optical flashes that range from terrestrial shooting stars to bright fireballs. On June 3, 2010 a bolide in Jupiter's atmosphere was simultaneously observed from the Earth by two amateur…
The Late Devonian was a protracted period of low speciation resulting in biodiversity decline, culminating in extinction events near the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary. Recent evidence indicates that the final extinction event may have…