Meteor Flux rates in Outer Solar System

Austin Albert Mardon

Introduction: The outer bodies the outer solar system are likely in a situation

where they receive a different amount and composition of infalling bolides. They are

closer to the Kuiper Belt which is the source for comets and has frozen volatiles .

The author proposes that this would mean that because there is less outgassing

of bolides before impact from being closer to the sun as occurs in bolides in the

rocky Inner solar system. This might increase the volume of material that impacts

. Another factor is that the gravitational sweep of the large planetary bodies in the

outer solar system would create a greater gravity well encompassing a greater area

that would mean a greater number of meteors. The author proposed before that

while the Cassinni mission was being planned that meteor flux rates be examined

in the upper atmosphere of Saturn and flux rates on the moons of Saturn. Mission

constraints prevented this phenomena being looked at.

Meteor trails would leave trails that could be detected in the visual and other

electron-magnetic spectrum around Saturn. As they are detected around Earth.

These trails which are essential the dust grains that burn up and leave an ioniza-

tion trail in the upper atmosphere of planetary bodies are at a micro level the same

amalgamation process that occurred in the formation of all of the planetary bodies

in our Solar system.

It might also be possible that the background streams of meteors in the Outer

Solar system are different due to the distance from the Inner Solar system. The Suns

gravity well itself might concentrate or disperse the back-ground dust and other non-

volatile as a factor of the distance from the Sun. A type of Bode’s Law for smaller

Solar system bodies down to dust particles.

Conclusion: The data that came back from the major Jupiter and Saturn missions

might contain data of the appearance and potential measurement possibility of meteor

flux rates in Outer Solar system bodies that could be compared with data from Earth

. This data might begin to indicate different flux rates and composition as a factor

of distance from the Sun.