Related papers: Jupiter's Metastable Companions
Trojans are small bodies in planetary Lagrangian points. In our solar system, Jupiter has the largest number of such companions. Their existence is assumed for exoplanetary systems as well, but none has been found so far. We present an…
Jupiter Trojans (JTs) librate about the Lagrangian stationary centers L4 and L5 associated with this planet on a typically small-eccentricity and moderate-inclination heliocentric orbits. The physical and orbital properties of JTs provide…
Over the course of the last decade, observations of highly-inclined (orbital inclination i > 60{\deg}) Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) have posed an important challenge to current models of solar system formation (Levison et al. 2008;…
In this work we present the results of a suite of dynamical simulations following the orbital evolution of 8,022 hypothetical Centaur objects. These Centaurs begin our integrations on orbits in the vicinity of the 2:1 mean motion resonance…
The last few months have seen the discovery of a second Martian Trojan (1998 VF31), as well as two further possible candidates (1998 QH56 and 1998 SD4). Together with the previously discovered Martian satellite 5261 Eureka, these are the…
Mars was second to Jupiter in being recognized as the host of a population of Trojan minor bodies. Since 1990, five asteroids - 5261 Eureka, (101429) 1998 VF31, (121514) 1999 UJ7, 2001 DH47 and (311999) 2007 NS2 - have been identified as…
Asteroids in mean motion resonances with giant planets are common in the solar system, but it was not until recently that several asteroids in retrograde mean motion resonances with Jupiter and Saturn were discovered. A retrograde…
We have numerically explored the stable planetary geometry for the multiple systems involved in a 2:1 mean motion resonance, and herein we mainly study the HD 82943 system by employing two sets of the orbital parameters (Mayor et al. 2004;…
Photometry from the Helios and STEREO spacecraft revealed regions of enhanced sky surface-brightness suggesting a narrow circumsolar ring of dust associated with Venus's orbit. We model this phenomenon by integrating the orbits of…
Previous work has demonstrated orbital stability for 100 Myr of initially near-circular and coplanar small bodies in a region termed the 'Earth-Mars belt' from 1.08 au $< a <$ 1.28 au. Via numerical integration of 3000 particles, we studied…
We estimated the rate of comet and asteroid collisions with the terrestrial planets by calculating the orbits of 13000 Jupiter-crossing objects (JCOs) and 1300 resonant asteroids and computing the probabilities of collisions based on…
Red (S > 10%/0.1 micron) spectral slopes are common among Centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) in the outer solar system. Interior to and co-orbital with Jupiter, the red (S approx. = 10%/0.1 micron) slopes of D-type main-belt and…
We identify a set of asteroids among Centaurs and Damocloids, that orbit contrary to the common direction of motion in the Solar System and that enter into resonance with Jupiter and Saturn. Their orbits have inclinations I >= 140 deg and…
Context. More than 10000 Jupiter Trojans have been detected so far. They are moving around the L4 and L5 triangular Lagrangian points of the Sun-Jupiter system and their distributions can provide important clues to the early evolution of…
Apart from Mercury that has no known co-orbital companions, Venus remains as the inner planet that hosts the smallest number of known co-orbitals (two): (322756) 2001 CK32 and 2002 VE68. Both objects have absolute magnitudes 18 < H < 21 and…
The process of capture in the coorbital region of a solar system planet is studied. Absolute capture likelihood in the 1:1 resonance is determined by randomly constructed statistical ensembles numbering $7.24\times 10^5$ of massless…
The stability of eight nominal fictitious Uranus Trojan orbits over the age of the Solar system has been measured. The initial inclinations, i0, were 0 deg., 5 deg., 15 deg., and 30 deg. relative to the ecliptic plane. Initial…
Studies have shown that remnants of destroyed planets and debris-disk planetesimals can survive the volatile evolution of their host stars into white dwarfs, but detection of intact planetary bodies around white dwarfs are few. Simulations…
Estimates of the size of the feeding zone of the planet Proxima Centauri c have been made at initial orbital eccentricities of planetesimals equal to 0.02 or 0.15. The research is based on the results of modeling of the evolution of…
The planetary dynamics of $4/3$, $3/2$, $5/2$, $3/1$ and $4/1$ mean motion resonances is studied by using the model of the general three body problem in a rotating frame and by determining families of periodic orbits for each resonance.…