English

Chaotic dynamics around cometary nuclei

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2018-04-09 v1 Chaotic Dynamics

Abstract

We apply a generalized Kepler map theory to describe the qualitative chaotic dynamics around cometary nuclei, based on accessible observational data for five comets whose nuclei are well-documented to resemble dumb-bells. The sizes of chaotic zones around the nuclei and the Lyapunov times of the motion inside these zones are estimated. In the case of Comet 1P/Halley, the circumnuclear chaotic zone seems to engulf an essential part of the Hill sphere, at least for orbits of moderate to high eccentricity.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1710.10110,
  title  = {Chaotic dynamics around cometary nuclei},
  author = {José Lages and Ivan I. Shevchenko and Guillaume Rollin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1710.10110},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

22 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in Icarus

R2 v1 2026-06-22T22:27:35.650Z