Horseshoe Co-orbitals of Earth: Current Population and New Candidates

Abstract

Most co-orbital objects in the Solar system are thought to follow tadpole-type orbits, behaving as Trojans. However, most of Earth's identified co-orbitals are moving along horseshoe-type orbits. The current tally of minor bodies considered to be Earth co-orbitals amounts to 18; of them, 12 are horseshoes, five are quasi-satellites, and one is a Trojan. The semimajor axis values of all these bodies librate between $0.983$ au and $1.017$ au. In this work, we have studied the dynamical behaviour of objects following orbits with semimajor axis within this range that may be in a 1:1 mean-motion resonance with Earth. Our results show that asteroids 2016 CO${}_{246}$, 2017 SL${}_{16}$, and 2017 XQ${}_{60}$ are moving along asymmetrical horseshoe-type orbits; the asteroid 2018 PN${}_{22}$ follows a nearly symmetric or regular horseshoe-type orbit. Asteroids 2016 CO${}_{246}$, 2017 SL${}_{16}$, and 2017 XQ${}_{60}$ can remain in the horseshoe co-orbital state for about $900$ yr, $3300$ yr and $2700$ yr, respectively. Asteroid 2018 PN${}_{22}$ has a more chaotic dynamical behaviour; it may not stay in a horseshoe co-orbital state for more than 200 yr. The horseshoe libration periods of 2016 CO${}_{246}$, 2017 SL${}_{16}$, 2017 XQ${}_{60}$, and 2018 PN${}_{22}$ are 280, 255, 411, and 125 yr, respectively.

14 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

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• The steady-state population of Earth's co-orbitals of lunar provenance
• Searching for Exotrojans in Pulsar Systems
• When the horseshoe fits: Characterizing 2023 FY3 with the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias and the Two-meter Twin Telescope