(meteorobs) 1999 RQ36 meteors?

[Carl Hergenrother]

Hello Everyone,

I would like to call attention to a possible meteor parent body
that will be the focus of a possible new spacecraft mission. The
OSIRIS mission is one of 3 finalists for NASA's next Discovery
class mission (other Discovery missions have included Deep Impact,
Stardust, NEAR...).

Our target is the Apollo near-Earth asteroid (101955) 1999 RQ36.
This target was selected because it is a carbonaceous B-type
asteroid and similar to 2 meteor producing objects, Phaethon and
2001 YB5, and the Themis family of Main Belt asteroids that
includes 3 active comets amoung its members. It is possible that
RQ36 is related to these 'activated asteroids' that are not derived
from the outer solar system but from volatile rich objects in the
outer Main Belt.

1999 RQ36's current orbit passes within 0.003 AU of the Earth in
late September. Using L. Neslusan's RADIANT program, a meteor
shower from RQ36 may be visible from the southern hemisphere on
Sep. 23-25 near alpha = 0h20m and delta = -34d.

I have the following questions for the list...
Are there any reported sighting of a RQ36 shower? And would
observers be willing to keep an eye out for possible RQ36 meteors
in late Sept?

I understand that any meteors from RQ36 will most likely only
be observable from the southern hemisphere. It is also very
possible that RQ36 has not experienced cometary activity recently
(or ever) and never produced possible meteors.

Thanks for your help and I look forward to hearing from the list,

Carl Hergenrother