Detailed meteoric flux and particle density field patterns generated by a meteoric stream, monodirectional and monoenergetic at infinity, incident upon a finite attractive center are derived and exhibited. Flux and density contours are obtained for a series of incident speeds spanning the entire range of established meteoric stream velocities. The development reveals the existence of five sectors about the attractive center. In some, flux is unscattered; in others, the flux is scattered; in one, the flux is both unscattered and scattered; in another, the null cone, there is no flux. All sectors including the null cone are treated in detail. An explicit theoretical explanation of abrupt discontinuities in flux and enhanced particulate concentrations near the earth, both of which are observed in rocket and satellite experiments, is given.

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The meteoric field structure theory previously developed for meteoric streams monoenergetic and monodirectional at infinity is applied to the problem of a meteoric stream incident upon an infinitesimal attractive center. Flux and density contours about the center are explicitly obtained for a particle speed at infinity of 2 km/sec as an example of a method developed to provide flux and density contours for any speed. An incident stream five to ten earth diameters in width results in an order of magnitude enhancement of flux at points downstream from the attractive center. The flux patterns for any energy can be derived from a universal flux plot in terms of a dimensionless parameter λ = yr, where y = V∞2/γM, and γ is distance in earth (or center) radii. This universal flux plot is shown.

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