Asteroids in the Inner Solar System I - Existence
arXiv:astro-ph/0005400 · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2000.03760.x
Abstract
Ensembles of in-plane and inclined orbits in the vicinity of the Lagrange points of the terrestrial planets are integrated for up to 100 million years. The integrations incorporate the gravitational effects of Sun and the eight planets (Pluto is neglected). Mercury is the least likely planet, as it is unable to retain tadpole orbits over 100 million year timescales. Both Venus and the Earth are much more promising, as they possess rich families of stable tadpole and horseshoe orbits. Our survey of Trojans in the orbital plane of Venus is undertaken for 25 million years. Some 40% of the survivors are on tadpole orbits. For the Earth, the integrations are pursued for 50 million years. The stable zones in the orbital plane are larger for the Earth than for Venus, but fewer of the survivors are tadpoles. Both Venus and the Earth also have regions in which inclined test particles can endure near the Lagrange points. For Venus, only test particles close to the orbital plane are stable. For the Earth, there are two bands of stability, one at low inclinations (i < 16 degrees) and one at moderate inclinations (between 24 degrees and 34 degrees). The inclined test particles that evade close encounters are primarily moving on tadpole orbits. Our survey of in-plane test particles near the Martian Lagrange points shows no survivors after 60 million years. Low inclination test particles do not persist, as their inclinations are quickly increased until the effects of a secular resonance with Jupiter cause de-stabilisation. Numerical integrations of inclined test particles for timespans of 25 million years show stable zones for inclinations between 14 and 40 degrees.
20 pages, 21 figures, Monthly Notices (in press)
References in corpus (4)
Cited by in corpus (31)
- Initial Performance of the NEOWISE Reactivation Mission
- On the dynamical evolution of 2002 VE68
- The resonant structure of Jupiter's trojan asteroids-II. What happens for different configurations of the planetary system
- Long-Term Stability of Horseshoe Orbits
- Three new stable L5 Mars Trojans
- A long-lived horseshoe companion to the Earth
- The orbit of 2010 TK7. Possible regions of stability for other Earth Trojan asteroids
- Orbital Stability of Earth Trojans
- Dynamical instability and its implications for planetary system architecture
- Formation of compact systems of super-Earths via dynamical instabilities and giant impacts
- A Twilight Search for Atiras, Vatiras and Co-orbital Asteroids: Preliminary Results
- Asteroid 2013 ND15: Trojan companion to Venus, PHA to the Earth
- Orbital clustering of Martian Trojans: An asteroid family in the inner solar system?
- Yarkovsky-Driven Spreading of the Eureka Family of Mars Trojans
- The Second Earth Trojan 2020 XL
- The Case for a Deep Search for Earth's Trojan Asteroids
- Asteroids in the Inner Solar System II - Observable Properties
- An optimal Mars Trojan asteroid search strategy
- Hungaria region as possible source of Trojans and satellites in the inner solar-system
- Asteroid 2012 XE133: a transient companion to Venus
- A Survey for Satellites of Venus
- Long-term dynamical survival of deep Earth coorbitals
- The structure of the co-orbital stable regions as a function of the mass ratio
- MEGASIM: Lifetimes and Resonances of Earth Trojan Asteroids -- The Death of Primordial ETAs?
- Search strategies for Trojan asteroids in the inner Solar System
- Predictions for the Detection of Earth and Mars Trojan Asteroids by the Gaia satellite
- Dynamics of 2023 FW14, the second L4 Mars trojan, and a physical characterization using the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias
- Trojan asteroids and co-orbital dust ring of Venus
- Four Billion Year Stability of the Earth-Mars Belt
- Long-Term Dynamical Evolution and Ejection of Near-Earth Asteroids
- Search for L5 Earth Trojans with DECam