The Hill Stability of Triple Minor Planets in the Solar System
arXiv:1211.4096 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.22019.x
Abstract
The triple asteroids and triple Kuiper belt objects (collectively called the triple minor planets) in the Solar system are of particular interest to the scientific community since the discovery of the first triple asteroid system in 2004. In this paper, the Hill stability of the nine known triple minor planets in the Solar system is investigated. Seven of the systems are of large size ratio, i.e. they consist of a larger primary and two moonlets, while the other two systems have components of comparable size. Each case is treated separately. For the triple minor planets that have large size ratio, the sufficient condition for Hill stability is expressed in closed form. This is not possible for the systems with comparable size components, for which the Hill stability is assessed by a combination of analytical and numerical means. It is found that all the known triple minor planets are Hill stable, except 3749 Balam, for which the incomplete orbital parameters make the Hill stability of the system uncertain. This suggests that there might be more such stable triple minor planets in the Solar system yet to be observed. It is also shown that the Hill stability regions increase as the mutual inclination between the inner orbit and outer orbit decreases, the semimajor axis ratio of the inner orbit with respect to the outer orbit decreases, and the mass ratio of the outer satellite with respect to the inner satellite increases. This study therefore provides useful information about dynamical properties of the triple minor planets in the Solar system.
arXiv comment24 pages, 1 figure
References in corpus (18)
- Formation of Kuiper Belt Binaries by Gravitational Collapse
- Dynamics of rotationally fissioned asteroids: Source of observed small asteroid systems
- Orbits and Masses of the Satellites of the Dwarf Planet Haumea = 2003 EL61
- Triplicity and Physical Characteristics of Asteroid (216) Kleopatra
- Detection of Six Transneptunian Binaries with NICMOS: A High Fraction of Binaries in the Cold Classical Disk
- The Dynamics of Two Massive Planets on Inclined Orbits
- Multiple Asteroid Systems: Dimensions and Thermal Properties from Spitzer Space Telescope and Ground-Based Observations
- Orbits of Near-Earth Asteroid Triples 2001 SN263 and 1994 CC: Properties, Origin, and Evolution
- Rotational fission of Trans-Neptunian Objects. The case of Haumea
- Stability criteria for hierarchical triple systems
- (47171) 1999 TC36, A Transneptunian Triple
- Near-Earth Binaries and Triples: Origin and Evolution of Spin-Orbital Properties
- Stability Regions Around the Components of the Triple System 2001 SN263
- A Dynamical Solution of the Triple Asteroid System (45) Eugenia
- Orbits, masses, and evolution of main belt triple (87) Sylvia
- On the Stability of the Satellites of Asteroid 87 Sylvia
- Instability zones for satellites of asteroids. The example of the (87) Sylvia system
- Extra-Solar Kuiper Belt Dust Disks