On age of 6070 Rheinland and 54827 (2001 NQ8) asteroid pair

TL;DR

This study confirms the young age of the asteroid pair 6070 Rheinland and 54827 (2001 NQ8) at approximately 16.2 thousand years, emphasizing the significance of Ceres and Vesta perturbations in their orbital dynamics.

Contribution

The paper provides a new age estimate for the asteroid pair using numerical orbit integration including specific asteroid perturbations, confirming previous results with different methods.

Findings

Age of asteroid pair estimated at 16.2 kyr

Ceres and Vesta significantly affect orbital dynamics

Non-gravitational forces are negligible in this case

Abstract

In this paper we present results of our studying of famous very young pair of asteroids 6070 Rheinland and 54827 (2001 NQ8). We have done numeric integration of orbits of pair with only planet perturbations and include Ceres and Vesta effect. We have confirmed results of previous studying, obtained with different integrators. And we confirm significant effect of Ceres and Vesta perturbation on dynamic of this pair. We find that effect of other massive asteroids is insignificant. According our results, more probable age of 6070 Rheinland and 54827 (2001 NQ8) pair is 16.2 kyrs. Our value of age is very close to most recent age determination by Vokrouhlicky et al [12], obtained with different method. After the compare our results, we can conclude, that non-gravitational forces are small and large number of clones is not necessary in studying of this pair. As an additional way of studying of close orbits dynamics, we calculate relative velocity in pair during numeric integration. Normal component of velocity show a very good convergence at epoch of closest encounter in pair.