Orbital Evolution of 4179 Toutatis

TL;DR

This study models the orbital evolution of asteroid 4179 Toutatis over 300,000 years, revealing its chaotic motion and potential to escape the Solar System due to gravitational perturbations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed simulation of Toutatis' orbital dynamics considering planetary influences, highlighting its chaotic behavior and escape possibility.

Findings

Toutatis exhibits chaotic orbital evolution.

Potential for asteroid to escape the Solar System.

Orbital changes driven by planetary gravitational perturbations.

Abstract

Asteroid 1934 CT;1989 AC, well known as 4179 Toutatis, is an Apollo and Mars-crosser asteroid with a chaotic orbit produced by a 3:1 resonance with Jupiter and a 1:4 resonance with the Earth, and frequent close approaches to the Earth. It is listed as a potential hazardous object (PHA). The aim of this study is to investigate the possibility of 4179 Toutatis to be ejected from the Solar System. This paper presents an orbital evolution of 4179 Toutatis in time interval of ~300 kyr. Investigation of its orbital evolution is conducted by using the Mercury subroutine package, where the gravitational perturbations of eight major planets in the Solar System are considered. Over very short time scales (~300 kyr) relative to the Solar System life time (~10 Gyr), the asteroid 4179 Toutatis gave an example of chaotic motion that can cause asteroid to move outward and may be followed by escaping from the Solar System.