Semi-analytical near-Earth objects propagation: the orbit history of (35107) 1991 VH and (175706) 1996 FG3
arXiv:2207.03527 · doi:10.3847/PSJ/ac83c6
Abstract
The propagation of small bodies in the Solar system is driven by the combination of planetary encounters that cause abrupt changes in their orbits and secular long-term perturbations. We propose a propagation strategy that combines both of these effects into a single framework for long-term, rapid propagation of small bodies in the inner Solar System. The analytical secular perturbation of Jupiter is interrupted to numerically solve planetary encounters, which last a small fraction of the simulation time. The proposed propagation method is compared to numerical integrations in the Solar system, effectively capturing properties of the numerical solutions in a fraction of the computational time. We study the orbital history of the Janus mission targets: (35107) 1991 VH and (175706) 1996 FG3, obtaining a stochastic representation of their long-term dynamics and frequencies of very close encounters. Over the last million years the probability of a strongly perturbing flyby is found to be small.
39 pages, 23 figures, accepted to the Planetary Science Journal (AAS-PSJ)