Title: Evidence of Eta Aquariid Outbursts Recorded in the Classic Maya Hieroglyphic Script Using Orbital Integrations,
Abstract: No firm evidence has existed that the ancient Maya civilization recorded
specific occurrences of meteor showers or outbursts in the corpus of Maya
hieroglyphic inscriptions. In fact, there has been no evidence of any
pre-Hispanic civilization in the Western Hemisphere recording any observations
of any meteor showers on any specific dates.
The authors numerically integrated meteoroid-sized particles released by
Comet Halley as early as 1404 BC to identify years within the Maya Classic
Period, AD 250-909, when Eta Aquariid outbursts might have occurred. Outbursts
determined by computer model were then compared to specific events in the Maya
record to see if any correlation existed between the date of the event and the
date of the outburst. The model was validated by successfully explaining
several outbursts around the same epoch in the Chinese record. Some outbursts
observed by the Maya were due to recent revolutions of Comet Halley, within a
few centuries, and some to resonant behavior in older Halley trails, of the
order of a thousand years. Examples were found of several different Jovian mean
motion resonances as well as the 1:3 Saturnian resonance that have controlled
the dynamical evolution of meteoroids in apparently observed outbursts.