Periodic Motion near the Surface of Asteroids

TL;DR

This paper investigates the complex periodic motions and bifurcations near the surface of irregular asteroids, revealing stable and unstable orbits, and explaining the stability of asteroid moonlets through bifurcation analysis.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of periodic motions and bifurcations near asteroid surfaces, highlighting differences from spherical bodies and explaining moonlet stability.

Findings

Existence of both stable and unstable periodic orbits near asteroid surfaces.

Identification of period doubling and pseudo period doubling bifurcations.

Stable orbits near the equatorial plane explain moonlet stability.

Abstract

We are interested in the periodic motion and bifurcations near the surface of an asteroid. The gravity field of an irregular asteroid and the equation of motion of a particle near the surface of an asteroid are studied. The periodic motions around the major body of triple asteroid 216 Kleopatra and the OSIRIS REx mission target asteroid 101955 Bennu are discussed. We find that motion near the surface of an irregular asteroid is quite different from the motion near the surface of a homoplastically spheroidal celestial body. The periodic motions around the asteroid 101955 Bennu and 216 Kleopatra indicate that the geometrical shapes of the orbits are probably very sophisticated. There exist both stable periodic motions and unstable periodic motions near the surface of the same irregular asteroid. This periodic motion which is unstable can be resonant or non resonant. The period doubling bifurcation and pseudo period doubling bifurcation of periodic orbits coexist in the same gravity field of the primary of the triple asteroid 216 Kleopatra. It is found that both of the period doubling bifurcations of periodic orbits and pseudo period-doubling bifurcation of periodic orbits have four different paths. The pseudo period doubling bifurcation found in the potential field of primary of triple asteroid 216 Kleopatra shows that there exist stable periodic orbits near the primary s equatorial plane, which gives an explanation for the motion stability of the triple asteroid 216 Kleopatra s two moonlets, Alexhelios and Cleoselene.