Investigation into the relationship between comet 96P/Machholz 1 and asteroid 2003 EH1

The evolution of the nominal orbits of comet 96/Machholz 1 and the near-Earth asteroid (196256) 2003 EH1 under the effects of gravitational perturbations from the major planets was investigated over a time interval of 28 000 yr. Several criteria for measuring the differences in orbits were used to determine when the orbits were most similar to each other and this was found to be approximately 9500 ago. This supports the hypothesis that the comet 96P/Machholz 1, the near-Earth asteroid (196256) 2003 EH1, and the Quadrantid meteoroid stream form a complex of related objects.