Determination of Ceres mass based on the most gravitationally efficient close encounters

TL;DR

This paper recalculates Ceres' mass using a new modified method based on close asteroid encounters, providing a more reliable estimate with improved accuracy over standard procedures.

Contribution

It introduces a modified method for asteroid mass determination that connects pre- and post-encounter observations, enhancing accuracy and reliability.

Findings

Modified method yields a Ceres mass of (4.54±0.07)×10^{-10} M_sun.

Standard method results in a mass of (4.70±0.04)×10^{-10} M_sun.

Correlation between methods is 0.78, confirming the modified method's reliability.

Abstract

Here is presented recalculated value of the mass of Ceres, based on explicit tracking of its gravitational influence on orbits evolution of 21 selected asteroids during their mutual close encounters (CE). It was applied a new modified method (MM) for mass determination, based on the connecting of pre-encounter observations to the orbit determined from post-encounter ones. The calculated weighted mean value of Ceres mass, based on modified method, is $(4.54\pm0.07)\,10^{-10}M_{\odot}$ while standard procedure (SM) provided result of $(4.70\pm0.04)\,10^{-10}M_{\odot}$. We found that correlation between individual estimated masses based on modified and standard method is 0.78, which confirms reliability of using modified method.