Near Earth Asteroid 2002 AA29 Chris Williams, HET617, Student 1607421 Email: [email protected]

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Near Earth Asteroid 2002 AA29 Chris Williams, HET617, Student 1607421 Email: 160742@Swin.Edu.Au Near Earth Asteroid 2002 AA29 Chris Williams, HET617, Student 1607421 email: [email protected] Abstract Quasi-satellite Phase Simulation Stability Asteroid 2002 AA29 is one of three 2002 AA29, from time to time, en- Tests of simulation stability were per- known examples of horseshoe orbit be- ters into an Earth quasi-satellite state in formed to ensure that results are reliable. haviour. The asteroid is co-orbital with which it stays within 0.2 AU of Earth Shorter integration time steps, 0.00027 Earth; the only substantial difference in for several decades. During the quasi- vs. 0.001 years, produced grossly differ- orbital parameters being a 10:7◦ inclina- satellite phase the asteroid occupies the ent results beyond approximately 5000 tion. From time to time, 2002 AA29 region normally excluded by its horse- years elapsed. An alternate, commonly- leaves the horseshoe behaviour and en- shoe motion. Fig. 2 shows consecutive used solar system starting state (Standish ters a quasi-satellite relationship with close approaches to Earth; one resulting et al. [2] vs. JPL HORIZONS) lead Earth (Connors et al. [1]), the next in- in several quasi-satellite orbits. to behavioural changes within the first 0.95 stance being approximately 2580 AD. Near 385 Yrs 500 years. Simulation without the outer 0.96 Near 483 Yrs 0.97 Near 605 Yrs Using the SWIFT simulation suite run- 0.98 planets rapidly diverges from the base X (AU) 0.99 1 ning on the Swinburne supercomputer -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 behaviour indicating that their distant ef- this project investigates the orbital be- Y (AU) fect is significant. The simulations are haviour of 2002 AA29, in particular the Figure 2: Three consecutive close approaches, the clearly very sensitive to starting state, quasi-satellite phase. The investigations third leading to quasi-satellite behaviour. and less so to simulation time step. The confirm the presence of quasi-satellite To get out of the horseshoe pattern, primary simulation is sufficiently stable behaviour and discount the possibility of 2002 AA29 must gain enough energy to over the 1200 years analysed in detail. resonances with Jupiter causing the tran- climb the potential barrier near Earth. To sition. investigate possible sources of that boost Conclusions the following checks were done: The orbital dynamics of 2002 AA29 Horseshoe Orbit are interesting as an example of horse- Alignment of Jupiter at Earth- 1 • shoe interaction with Earth. The quasi- L4 100 asteroid close approaches. No consis- 80 0.5 60 satellite behaviour is unique among 40 20 tent alignment was found at the on- 0 known examples of horseshoe orbits. 0 L3 Sun Earth -20 Y (AU) -40 set or termination of quasi-satellite Ecliptic latitude (deg) -60 Jupiter, and the outer planets, play a part -0.5 -80 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 phases. Elongation from Sun (deg) L5 in the evolution of the inner solar system -1 Approaching Receding -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 Resonance between Jupiter and but do not appear to be the trigger for X (AU) • Years 0-95 Years 95-191 oscillation in semi-major axis during entry or exit to the quasi-satellite stage. Figure 1: 2002 AA29 annual average position over 192 quasi-satellite phase (Fig. 3). Subse- The asteroid’s oscillatory motion about years in co-rotating frame (left), and close approach quent phases showed varied oscilla- Earth seems to be purely the result of in- near 2190 AD as seen in the morning sky (right). tion periods; 13 to 16.8 years. No teractions with Earth near the asteroid’s The equations of motion for gravita- convincing resonance was found. nodes. tional systems with three or more bod- Sensitivity to position of Future work on the nature of the quasi- ies are not generally analytically inte- 2002• AA29’s nodes (potential close satellite phase could look in more detail grable. A number of tractable three- approaches). Changing the asteroid at the nature of nodal interactions be- body restricted cases exist for which mo- orbit orientation slightly changes the tween Earth and 2002 AA29. tions have been determined analytically. onset of quasi-satellite phase. Examination of such systems in a frame 1.012 1.008 1.004 that co-rotates with the planet led to 1 a (AU) 0.996 0.992 the derivation of Lagrangian equilibrium 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 points (L1–L5) at which a light object 1.012 1.008 References 1.004 1 may be dynamically stable. The ob- a (AU) 0.996 0.992 [1] M. Connors, P. Chodas, S. Mikkola, P. Wiegert, ject may be seen as trapped in a horse- 560 570 580 590 600 610 620 630 640 650 C. Veillet, and K. Innanen. Discovery of an aster- Elapsed time (Yrs) shoe shaped gravitational well along the 2002 AA29 Earth oid and quasi-satellite in an Earth-like horseshoe or- planet’s orbit, bounded by high walls bit. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 37:1435–1441, Figure 3: 2002 AA29 semi-major axis vs. time for October 2002. near the planet. 2002 AA29 oscillates simulation (top) and quasi-satellite period (bottom). [2] E. M. Standish, X. X. Newhall, J. G. Williams, and about the potential well generated by the The most likely cause of the quasi- D. K. Yeomans. Explanatory Supplement to the As- Earth-Sun system over a period of 190 tronomical Almanac, chapter Orbital ephemerides of satellite behaviour is interaction with the Sun, Moon and planets. University Science Books, years (Fig. 1). Annual motion appears Earth, and this is very sensitive to align- Mill Valley, CA, 1992. as a spiral about the Earth’s orbit. ment near the nodes..
Recommended publications
  • Discovery of Earth's Quasi-Satellite
    Meteoritics & Planetary Science 39, Nr 8, 1251–1255 (2004) Abstract available online at http://meteoritics.org Discovery of Earth’s quasi-satellite Martin CONNORS,1* Christian VEILLET,2 Ramon BRASSER,3 Paul WIEGERT,4 Paul CHODAS,5 Seppo MIKKOLA,6 and Kimmo INNANEN3 1Athabasca University, Athabasca AB, Canada T9S 3A3 2Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, P. O. Box 1597, Kamuela, Hawaii 96743, USA 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada 5Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91109, USA 6Turku University Observatory, Tuorla, FIN-21500 Piikkiö, Finland *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] (Received 18 February 2004; revision accepted 12 July 2004) Abstract–The newly discovered asteroid 2003 YN107 is currently a quasi-satellite of the Earth, making a satellite-like orbit of high inclination with apparent period of one year. The term quasi- satellite is used since these large orbits are not completely closed, but rather perturbed portions of the asteroid’s orbit around the Sun. Due to its extremely Earth-like orbit, this asteroid is influenced by Earth’s gravity to remain within 0.1 AU of the Earth for approximately 10 years (1997 to 2006). Prior to this, it had been on a horseshoe orbit closely following Earth’s orbit for several hundred years. It will re-enter such an orbit, and make one final libration of 123 years, after which it will have a close interaction with the Earth and transition to a circulating orbit.
    [Show full text]
  • Earth's Recurrent Quasi-Satellite?
    2002 AA: Earth’s recurrent quasi-satellite ? Pawel Wajer To cite this version: Pawel Wajer. 2002 AA: Earth’s recurrent quasi-satellite ?. Icarus, Elsevier, 2009, 200 (1), pp.147. 10.1016/j.icarus.2008.10.018. hal-00510967 HAL Id: hal-00510967 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00510967 Submitted on 23 Aug 2010 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Accepted Manuscript 2002 AA29: Earth’s recurrent quasi-satellite ? Paweł Wajer PII: S0019-1035(08)00381-3 DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2008.10.018 Reference: YICAR 8801 To appear in: Icarus Received date: 11 April 2008 Revised date: 20 October 2008 Accepted date: 23 October 2008 Please cite this article as: P. Wajer, 2002 AA29: Earth’s recurrent quasi-satellite ?, Icarus (2008), doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2008.10.018 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
    [Show full text]
  • Report to the NSF AST Senior Review (July 2005)
    NATIONAL ASTRONOMY & IONOSPHERE CENTER Operated by Cornell University under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation NAIC Science in the Twenty-First Century: Report to the NSF Senior Review El quien no ha visto el Observatorio de Arecibo no ha visto una maravilla. July 2005 NAIC Science in the Twenty-First Century: Report to the NSF Senior Review 1. Executive Summary 1 2. The Unique Role of NAIC in U.S. Astronomy 2 2.1 The “Millennium Questions” in Astrophysics 2 2.2 ALFA Surveys 3 2.3 Pulsar Timing 10 2.4 the High Sensitivity Array 11 2.5 S-Band Planetary Radar 14 2.6 SETI 18 3. NAIC Science in the Twenty-First Century: A New Model for a National Observatory 18 3.1 Partnerships in Detector and Digital Signal Processing Technology 20 3.2 Partnerships in Computation and Information Sharing Technology 21 3.3 ALFA Legacy Survey Consortia Organization 24 3.4 Management of the U.S. Square Kilometer Array Partnership for the Technology Development Project 25 4. NAIC General Facility Description 25 4.1 Overview of the Facility 25 4.2 NAIC Managing Institution and Organization 26 4.3 NAIC Funding Sources 26 4.4 Specifics of the Telescope and Instrumentation 26 4.5 New Capabilities Planned in the Next 5-10 Years 26 4.6 Science Overview 27 4.6.1 Current Forefront Scientific Programs 27 4.6.2 Major NAIC Astronomy Program Scientific Discoveries Made at the Arecibo Observatory 28 4.6.3 NAIC Astronomy Program Science Highlights of the Last Five Years 29 4.6.4 Focus on Future Astronomy Program Science Questions 29 5.
    [Show full text]
  • Radar Detection of Asteroid 2002 AA29
    Icarus 166 (2003) 271–275 www.elsevier.com/locate/icarus Radar detection of Asteroid 2002 AA29 Steven J. Ostro,a,∗ Jon D. Giorgini,a Lance A.M. Benner,a Alice A. Hine,b Michael C. Nolan,b Jean-Luc Margot,c Paul W. Chodas,a and Christian Veillet d a Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, USA b National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Arecibo Observatory, HC3 Box 53995, Arecibo, PR 00612, USA c California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA d Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Corporation, 65-1238 Mamaloha Hwy, Kamuela, HI 96743, USA Received 24 June 2003; revised 27 August 2003 Abstract − Radar echoes from Earth co-orbital Asteroid 2002 AA29 yield a total-power radar cross section of 2.9 × 10 5 km2 ±25%, a circular polarization ratio of SC/OC = 0.26 ± 0.07, and an echo bandwidth of at least 1.5 Hz. Combining these results with the estimate of its visual absolute magnitude, HV = 25.23 ± 0.24, from reported Spacewatch photometry indicates an effective diameter of 25 ± 5 m, a rotation period − no longer than 33 min, and an average surface bulk density no larger than 2.0 g cm 3; the asteroid is radar dark and optically bright, and its statistically most likely spectral class is S. The HV estimate from LINEAR photometry (23.58 ± 0.38) is not compatible with either Spacewatch’s HV or our radar results. If a bias this large were generally present in LINEAR’s estimates of HV for asteroids it has discovered or observed, then estimates of the current completeness of the Spaceguard Survey would have to be revised downward.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:1611.07413V1
    Noname manuscript No. (will be inserted by the editor) Trojan capture by terrestrial planets Schwarz, R. · Dvorak, R. the date of receipt and acceptance should be inserted later Abstract The paper is devoted to investigate the capture of asteroids by Venus, Earth and Mars into the 1:1 mean motion resonance especially into Trojan orbits. Current theoretical studies predict that Trojan asteroids are a frequent by-product of the planet formation. This is not only the case for the outer giant planets, but also for the terrestrial planets in the inner Solar System. By using numerical integrations, we investigated the capture efficiency and the stability of the captured objects. We found out that the capture efficiency is larger for the planets in the inner Solar System compared to the outer ones, but most of the captured Trojan asteroids are not long term stable. This temporary captures caused by chaotic behaviour of the objects were investigated without any dissipative forces. They show an interesting dynamical behaviour of mixing like jumping from one Lagrange point to the other one. Keywords Trojan capture · terrestrial planets · Near Earth asteroids · 1:1 mean motion resonance 1 Introduction In February 1906, Max Wolf [38] discovered the first Trojan asteroid named 588 Achilles, after the hero of the Trojan war. Almost a century later, in 1990, the first Martian Trojan (5261 Eureka) was observed by Bowell et al. [4]. In 2001 the first Neptune Trojan was discovered by the Lowell Observatory Deep Ecliptic R. Schwarz T¨urkenschanzstrasse 17, 1180 Vienna Tel.: +43-1-427751841 Fax: +43-1-42779518 E-mail: [email protected] R.
    [Show full text]
  • Discovery Paper
    Meteoritics & Planetary Science 39, Nr 8, 12511255 (2004) Abstract available online at http://meteoritics.org Discovery of Earth‘s quasi-satellite Martin CONNORS,1* Christian VEILLET,2 Ramon BRASSER,3 Paul WIEGERT,4 Paul CHODAS,5 Seppo MIKKOLA,6 and Kimmo INNANEN3 1Athabasca University, Athabasca AB, Canada T9S 3A3 2Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, P. O. Box 1597, Kamuela, Hawaii 96743, USA 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada 5Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91109, USA 6Turku University Observatory, Tuorla, FIN-21500 Piikkiö, Finland *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] (Received 18 February 2004; revision accepted 12 July 2004) AbstractœThe newly discovered asteroid 2003 YN107 is currently a quasi-satellite of the Earth, making a satellite-like orbit of high inclination with apparent period of one year. The term quasi- satellite is used since these large orbits are not completely closed, but rather perturbed portions of the asteroid‘s orbit around the Sun. Due to its extremely Earth-like orbit, this asteroid is influenced by Earth‘s gravity to remain within 0.1 AU of the Earth for approximately 10 years (1997 to 2006). Prior to this, it had been on a horseshoe orbit closely following Earth‘s orbit for several hundred years. It will re-enter such an orbit, and make one final libration of 123 years, after which it will have a close interaction with the Earth and transition to a circulating orbit. Chaotic effects limit our ability to determine the origin or fate of this object.
    [Show full text]
  • Les Principaux Astres Du Système Solaire
    seconde 2009-2010 Les principaux astres du système solaire NB : les corps qui suivent n'étaient pas tous connus des astronomes de l'Antiquité, donc les noms latins et grecs ne sont que des transcriptions modernes. Les planètes et planètes naines sont mises en gras. La distance au Soleil n'est que la moyenne (demi-grand axe) entre l'aphélie et la périhélie ; exemple avec l'orbite de Sedna qui passe en 12 000 ans de 76,057 à 935,451 UA (demi-grand axe : 505,754 UA). Étant donné qu'au printemps 2009 l'Union astronomique internationale dénombrait plus de 450 000 astéroïdes dans notre système, tous ne sont pas présents ci-dessous... Sources : IAU ; Names & discoverers ; Minor Planet Center (Smithsonian). Noms Distances Années de Noms Noms systématiques Symboles au Soleil Noms latins Noms grecs découverte français anglais selon l'IAU (en UA) - 0,000 - Soleil Sol Ήλιος Sun Sol I 0,387 - Mercure Mercvrivs Ερμής Mercury - 0,635 2004 2004 JG6 2004 JG6 Sol II 0,723 - Vénus Venvs Αφροδίτη Venus - 0,723 2002 2002 VE68 2002 VE68 163693 - 0,741 2003 Atira Atira - 0,818 2004 2004 FH 2004 FH 2100 - 0,832 1978 Ra-Shalom Ra-Shalom 2340 - 0,844 1976 Hathor Hathor 99942 - 0,922 2004 Apophis Άποφις Apophis 2062 - 0,967 1976 Aten Aten - 0,997 2003 2003 YN107 2003 YN107 3753 - 0,998 1986 Cruithne Cruithne Sol III 1,000 - Terre Tellvs/Terra Γη/Γαῖα Earth Earth I - - Lune Lvna Σελήνη Moon - 1,000 2002 2002 AA29 2002 AA29 54509 - 1,005 2000 YORP YORP 4581 - 1,022 1989 Asclépios Asclepius 4769 - 1,063 1989 Castalia Castalia 1620 - 1,245 1951 Géographos Geographos
    [Show full text]
  • Atlas of the Mean Motion Resonances in the Solar System
    Icarus 184 (2006) 29–38 www.elsevier.com/locate/icarus Atlas of the mean motion resonances in the Solar System Tabaré Gallardo ∗ Departamento de Astronomia, Facultad de Ciencias, Igua 4225, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay Received 30 December 2005; revised 29 March 2006 Available online 19 May 2006 Abstract The aim of this work is to present a systematic survey of the strength of the mean motion resonances (MMRs) in the Solar System. We know by applying simple formulas where the resonances with the planets are located but there is no indication of the strength that these resonances have. We propose a numerical method for the calculation of this strength and we present an atlas of the MMRs constructed with this method. We found there exist several resonances unexpectedly strong and we look and find in the small bodies population several bodies captured in these resonances. In particular in the inner Solar System we find one asteroid in the resonance 6:5 with Venus, five asteroids in resonance 1:2 with Venus, three asteroids in resonance 1:2 with Earth and six asteroids in resonance 2:5 with Earth. We find some new possible co-orbitals of Earth, Mars, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. We also present a discussion about the behavior of the resonant disturbing function and where the stable equilibrium points can be found at low and high inclination resonant orbits. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Celestial mechanics; Resonances; Trans-neptunian objects; Near-Earth objects; Trojan asteroids 1. Introduction realistic. For zero inclination orbits it is possible to compute the widths in semimajor axis of the MMRs with the planets For many years the dynamical studies of MMRs were re- as a function of the eccentricity (Dermott and Murray, 1983; stricted to low order resonances because these are the most Morbidelli et al., 1995; Nesvorný et al., 2002) but no sim- evident in the asteroid belt.
    [Show full text]
  • NASA Workshop on Scientific Requirements for Mitigation of Hazardous Comets and Asteroids
    Extended Abstracts from the NASA Workshop on Scientific Requirements for Mitigation of Hazardous Comets and Asteroids held in Arlington, VA September 3-6, 2002 Erik Asphaug and Nalin Samarasinha, eds. [email protected], [email protected] October 24, 2002 Workshop Poster (July 2002) NOTE: The abstracts contained herein are compiled as received from the authors, with no modification other than file conversion to PDF and concatenation into a single document. No effort has been made to rectify any aspect of any submission, other than to ensure that the proper author heading appears on the associated pages. This document may be freely transmitted in its entirety. Individual authors maintain copyright ownership to their submitted works. In September 2002, NASA’s Office of Space Science sponsored a workshop on Scientific Requirements for Mitigation of Hazardous Comets and Asteroids, attended by 70 scientists from around the world and 20 registered media participants. Peer reviewed invited proceedings from this workshop will be published by Cambridge University Press in late 2003; extended abstracts from both invited and contributed talks are included here. See http://www.noao.edu/meetings/mitigation for updates on the book publication and for other materials related to the workshop. This document will be archived at the above site, and may be updated in time with better formatting. In addition to NASA’s sponsorship, support from Ball Aerospace, NOAO, The University of Maryland, Lockheed Martin and SAIC helped make the workshop a success and is gratefully acknowledged. On the following pages you will find the consensus statement that was released to the press on the final day of the workshop, followed by contributed extended abstracts in alphabetical order.
    [Show full text]
  • From Horseshoe to Quasi-Satellite and Back Again: the Curious Dynamics Of
    From horseshoe to quasi-satellite and back again: the curious dynamics of Earth co-orbital asteroid 2015 SO2 C. de la Fuente Marcos • R. de la Fuente Marcos Abstract Earth co-orbitals of the horseshoe type are this case is the difference between the mean longitudes interesting objects to study for practical reasons. They of the asteroid and its host planet or relative mean lon- are relatively easy to access from our planet and that gitude. The mean longitude of an object —planet or makes them attractive targets for sample return mis- minor body— is given by λ = M +Ω+ ω, where M sions. Here, we show that near-Earth asteroid (NEA) is the mean anomaly, Ω is the longitude of the ascend- 2015 SO2 is a transient co-orbital to the Earth that ing node, and ω is the argument of perihelion (see, e.g., experiences a rather peculiar orbital evolution charac- Murray & Dermott 1999). For these objects, the value terised by recurrent, alternating horseshoe and quasi- of the critical angle librates or oscillates; for a regular satellite episodes. It is currently following a horseshoe passing body, the relative mean longitude circulates or trajectory, the ninth asteroid known to do so. Besides takes any value in the range (0, 2π). Even if some of moving inside the 1:1 mean motion resonance with the them can experience relatively close flybys, co-orbital Earth, it is subjected to a Kozai resonance with the asteroids tend to be small, transient visitors and they value of the argument of perihelion librating around ◦ do not pose a particularly high hazard for their host 270 .
    [Show full text]
  • Behavior of Jupiter Non-Trojan Co-Orbitals
    ACTA ASTRONOMICA Vol. 62 (2012) pp. 113–131 Behavior of Jupiter Non-Trojan Co-Orbitals PawełWajerandMałgorzataKrólikowska Space Research Centre of Polish Academy of Sciences, Bartycka 18A, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland e-mail: [email protected] Received November 18, 2011 ABSTRACT Searching for the non-Trojan Jupiter co-orbitals we have numerically integrated orbits of 3 160 asteroids and 24 comets discovered by October 2010 and situated within and close to the planet co- orbital region. Using this sample we have been able to select eight asteroids and three comets and have analyzed their orbital behavior in a great detail. Among them we have identified five new Jupiter co-orbitals: (241944) 2002 CU 147 , 2006 SA 387 , 2006 QL 39 , 2007 GH 6 , and 200P/Larsen, as well as we have analyzed six previously identified co-orbitals: (118624) 2000 HR 24 , 2006 UG 185 , 2001 QQ 199 , 2004 AE 9 , P/2003 WC 7 LINEAR-CATALINA and P/2002 AR 2 LINEAR. (241944) 2002 CU 147 is currently on a quasi-satellite orbit with repeatable transitions into the tadpole state. Similar behavior shows 2007 GH 6 which additionally librates in a compound tadpole- quasi-satellite orbit. 2006 QL 39 and 200P/Larsen are the co-orbitals of Jupiter which are temporarily moving in a horseshoe orbit occasionally interrupted by a quasi-satellite behavior. 2006 SA 387 is moving in a pure horseshoe orbit. Orbits of the latter three objects are unstable and according to our calculations, these objects will leave the horseshoe state in a few hundred years. Two aster- oids, 2001 QQ 199 and 2004 AE 9 , are long-lived quasi-satellites of Jupiter.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:1608.01518V2 [Astro-Ph.EP] 16 Aug 2016
    MNRAS 000, 1–16 (2016) Preprint 18 August 2016 Compiled using MNRAS LATEX style file v3.0 Asteroid (469219) 2016 HO3, the smallest and closest Earth quasi-satellite C. de la Fuente Marcos⋆ and R. de la Fuente Marcos Apartado de Correos 3413, E-28080 Madrid, Spain Accepted 2016 August 4. Received 2016 August 3; in original form 2016 June 12 ABSTRACT A number of Earth co-orbital asteroids experience repeated transitions between the quasi- satellite and horseshoe dynamical states. Asteroids 2001 GO2, 2002 AA29, 2003 YN107 and 2015 SO2 are well-documentedcases of such a dynamical behaviour. These transitions depend on the gravitational influence of other planets, owing to the overlapping of a multiplicity of secular resonances. Here, we show that the recently discovered asteroid (469219) 2016 HO3 is a quasi-satellite of our planet —the fifth one, joining the ranks of (164207) 2004 GU9, (277810) 2006 FV35, 2013 LX28 and 2014 OL339. This new Earth co-orbital also switches repeatedly between the quasi-satellite and horseshoe configurations. Its current quasi-satellite episode started nearly 100 yr ago and it will end in about 300 yr from now. The orbital solu- tion currently available for this object is very robust and our full N-body calculations show that it may be a long-term companion (time-scale of Myr) to our planet. Among the known Earth quasi-satellites, it is the closest to our planet and as such, a potentially accessible target for future in situ study. Due to its presumably lengthy dynamical relationship with the Earth and given the fact that at present and for many decades this transient object remains well positioned with respect to our planet, the results of spectroscopic studies of this small body, 26–115 m, may be particularly useful to improve our understanding of the origins —local or captured— of Earth’s co-orbital asteroid population.
    [Show full text]