Instability zones for satellites of asteroids. The example of the (87) Sylvia system

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the stability of the (87) Sylvia asteroid system and its satellites, identifying stable and chaotic regions, and examining how tidal and BYORP effects influence their long-term stability.

Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical study of the Sylvia system's stability, including the effects of non-sphericity, perturbations, and resonance zones, extending insights to other asteroid satellites.

Findings

The Sylvia system is in a deeply stable zone.

Chaotic regions are caused by resonances.

Tidal and BYORP effects influence system stability over time.

Abstract

We study the stability of the (87) Sylvia system and of the neighborhood of its two satellites. We use numerical integrations considering the non-sphericity of Sylvia, as well as the mutual perturbation of the satellites and the solar perturbation. Two numerical models have been used, which describe respectively the short and long-term evolution of the system. We show that the actual system is in a deeply stable zone, but surrounded by both fast and secular chaotic regions due to resonances. We then investigate how tidal and BYORP effects modify the location of the system over time with respect to the instability zones. Finally, we briefly generalize this study to other known triple systems and to satellites of asteroids in general, and discuss about their distance from mean-motion and evection resonances.