Numerical N-body Approach to Binary Asteroid Formation and Evolution
Numerical N-body Approach to Binary Asteroid Formation and Evolution

Author: Carlo Comito

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 171

ISBN-13:

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Binary asteroids play a role of primary importance in determining some physical parameters difficult to measure from Earth, such as the mass. By studying the origin of binaries in the general frame of gravitational aggregates, we can use them as natural laboratories for granular system physics in microgravity conditions, thus obtaining valuable information for modelling asteroids in general. A large variety exists as for the range of parameters of the observed binary systems, and many possible origins have been suggested for them (catastrophic shattering of a parent object and reaccumulation as multiple bodies, planetary tidal perturbations, cratering, YORP ...). In this work we explore by numerical N-body simulations the dynamics of gravitational aggregates outside the limits of stability for a single body, looking for the most favourable configurations leading to binary systems formation. First we show how common the formation of binary systems in a catastrophic scenario is, well reproducing the variety in the observed population. As a second step we explore the possibility of a gradual shape deformation of an aggregate towards a binary system by the action of a slow perturbing force leading to a possible fission of the body. Our results provide new insights into the formation of asteroid binaries, as shown by a comparison to observations and existing literature.

Development of a Numerical Simulation Method for Rocky Body Impacts and Theoretical Analysis of Asteroidal Shapes
Development of a Numerical Simulation Method for Rocky Body Impacts and Theoretical Analysis of Asteroidal Shapes

Author: Keisuke Sugiura

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-03-17

Total Pages: 143

ISBN-13: 9811537224

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This book describes numerical simulations of collisions between asteroids, based on a unique numerical code developed by the author. The code accurately solves the elastic dynamic equations and describes the effects of fracture and friction, which makes it possible to investigate the shapes of impact outcomes produced by asteroid collisions and subsequent gravitational accumulation of fragments. The author parallelizes the code with high parallelization efficiency; accordingly, it can be used to conduct high-resolution simulations with the aid of supercomputers and clarify the shapes of small remnants produced through the catastrophic destruction of asteroids. The author demonstrates that flat asteroids can only be produced by impacts involving objects with similar mass and low velocity, which suggests that the flat asteroids in our solar system were created in the planet formation era and have kept their shapes until today. The author also shows that asteroid collisions under certain conditions can produce the extremely elongated shape of an interstellar minor body, 1I/‘Oumuamua. In brief, the book offers a comprehensive investigation of asteroid impacts and shapes, making it a uniquely valuable resource.

Asteroids IV
Asteroids IV

Author: Patrick Michel

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2015-12-31

Total Pages: 946

ISBN-13: 0816532184

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Over the past decade, asteroids have come to the forefront of planetary science. Scientists across broad disciplines are increasingly recognizing that understanding asteroids is essential to discerning the basic processes of planetary formation, including how their current distribution bespeaks our solar system’s cataclysmic past. For explorers, the nearest asteroids beckon as the most accessible milestones in interplanetary space, offering spaceflight destinations easier to reach than the lunar surface. For futurists, the prospects of asteroids as commercial resources tantalize as a twenty-first-century gold rush, albeit with far greater challenges than faced by nineteenth-century pioneers. For humanity, it is the realization that asteroids matter. It is not a question of if—but when—the next major impact will occur. While the disaster probabilities are thankfully small, fully cataloging and characterizing the potentially hazardous asteroid population remains unfinished business. Asteroids IV sets the latest scientific foundation upon which all these topics and more will be built upon for the future. Nearly 150 international authorities through more than 40 chapters convey the definitive state of the field by detailing our current astronomical, compositional, geological, and geophysical knowledge of asteroids, as well as their unique physical processes and interrelationships with comets and meteorites. Most importantly, this volume outlines the outstanding questions that will focus and drive researchers and students of all ages toward new advances in the coming decade and beyond.

Asteroids
Asteroids

Author: Edward C. Blair

Publisher: Nova Publishers

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9781590334829

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With the bulk of asteroids floating in space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, astronomers puzzle over where these rocks came from. Are they the remnants of a planet? Excess not used in the formation of the Solar System? Nothing more than random bits of debris? The location of the belt makes for a quasi-barrier separating the inner from the outer planets. Perhaps asteroids were meant to discourage human space exploration. NASA has sent missions to explore the asteroid belt and the rocks themselves, and those missions have yielded some interesting observations on the composition of the asteroids but no definitive answer as to their origin. Earth-based tools such as telescopes and satellites also contribute to asteroid research but cannot plumb the depths behind these varied chunks of flotsam. Presented in this book is a list of carefully chosen abstracts and citations of relevant literature about asteroids and the research into them. Prior to this listing, though, comes an overview of the nature of the asteroids and what we know now about them and what we hope to discover in the future. lifeless but mysterious rocks inhabiting the solar system. To conclude, easy access is provided through author, title, and subject indexes.

Gravitational N-Body Simulations
Gravitational N-Body Simulations

Author: Sverre J. Aarseth

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2003-10-23

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 1139441078

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This book presents basic methods for numerical simulation of gravitational systems, demonstrating how to develop clear and elegant algorithms. It explains the fundamental mathematical tools needed to describe the dynamics of a large number of mutually attractive particles, and the techniques needed to model various known planetary and astrophysical phenomena.

Three Body Dynamics and Its Applications to Exoplanets
Three Body Dynamics and Its Applications to Exoplanets

Author: Zdzislaw Musielak

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-07-22

Total Pages: 115

ISBN-13: 3319582267

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This brief book provides an overview of the gravitational orbital evolution of few-body systems, in particular those consisting of three bodies. The authors present the historical context that begins with the origin of the problem as defined by Newton, which was followed up by Euler, Lagrange, Laplace, and many others. Additionally, they consider the modern works from the 20th and 21st centuries that describe the development of powerful analytical methods by Poincare and others. The development of numerical tools, including modern symplectic methods, are presented as they pertain to the identification of short-term chaos and long term integrations of the orbits of many astronomical architectures such as stellar triples, planets in binaries, and single stars that host multiple exoplanets. The book includes some of the latest discoveries from the Kepler and now K2 missions, as well as applications to exoplanets discovered via the radial velocity method. Specifically, the authors give a unique perspective in relation to the discovery of planets in binary star systems and the current search for extrasolar moons.

Dynamics of Satellietes in Binary Near-Earth Asteroid Systems
Dynamics of Satellietes in Binary Near-Earth Asteroid Systems

Author: Shantanu Naidu

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 108

ISBN-13:

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In the past 15 years, three previously unrecognized sub-populations of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) have been discovered. About 15% of NEAs are binaries, at least 10% of NEAs are contact binaries, and dozens of asteroid pairs have been identified. Numerous science questions have arisen about the formation and evolution processes of these systems and about the inter-relationships between these groups. Addressing these questions informs us about a wide range of important solar system processes that shape small bodies and planetesimals. Here I have chosen to focus on providing one of the most complete characterizations of a binary system among all known asteroid binaries, and on studying the spin-orbit interactions in this and 8 additional binary systems. One hypothesis that has not been fully explored is the possibility of chaotic rotation of asteroid satellites and the impact that such a state has on the evolution of the binary systems. I examine this problem as well as the possibility of detecting librational motions in synchronous satellites. Because the Arecibo and Goldstone radar systems enable superb characterizations of binaries and NEAs in general, this dissertation makes abundant use of radar data. Radar observations provide images of asteroids at decameter resolution, and these images can be inverted to determine the 3D shapes of the components, which are essential to properly model the system dynamics. Radar data also enable precise determination of the mutual orbit, which is another crucial ingredient. In the first two chapters of the dissertation, I describe the observations and physical characterizations of asteroid 2000~ET70 and binary asteroid 2000 DP107. The characterization of 2000 DP107 includes size, shape, spin, mass, and density of each component, making this binary one of the best-characterized asteroid binary to date. In the last chapter of the dissertation, I describe a computationally efficient fourth-order numerical integrator that I used to investigate the coupled spin and orbital dynamics of the satellites of NEAs. The speed of the integrator enabled multi-year timescale simulations of 9 well-characterized binary near-Earth asteroids. The numerical simulations illuminate a range of rotational regimes for asteroid satellites and the conditions under which the various regimes prevail. One of the rotational regimes is chaotic, and I find that this rotation state can substantially delay the radiative evolution of binary systems.

Impact on Infinite Asteroids
Impact on Infinite Asteroids

Author: Jennifer N. Larson

Publisher:

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Binary asteroid systems make up roughly 15% of objects occupying near-Earth space, the Main Belt, and trans-Neptunian space. The impact history of asteroids in binary systems represents an interesting aspect of the general problem pertaining to the nature and evolution of surfaces for such objects. Specifically, the post-impact dynamics of ejecta and its relation to surface modification is a challenging question owing, in part, to the unusual gravitational field in a binary system and the subsequent capture and emplacement of debris on either binary component. Observable differences or similarities between the two bodies in the color, reflectance, thermal properties, and grain properties of their respective regoliths could give insight into the system’s past and the circumstances of recent impacts. Here we present simulations of impact scenarios in a wide variety of binary systems in order to generate a large family of prediction models for resurfacing and ejecta covering outcomes due to impacts. In this way, we can address our main science question of how specific binary system parameters influence the evolution of their surfaces. To create a library of ejecta outcomes, we first developed the Rebound Ejecta Dynamics (RED) package (Larson and Sarid 2021), an N-body integrator designed to model post-impact debris dynamics that builds on the existing Rebound software (Rein and Tamayo 2015). This package allows us to vary the many of the important parameters of a binary system, including primary-secondary separation, rotation periods, and mass ratios, as well as impact-related parameters, such as impact surface location, ejecta size and velocity distribution, and ejecta compositions. Our simulations generally use 104 particles and cover one week of simulation time. From our simulations, we calculate the percentage of the system that is resurfaced, the distance that particles travel from the impact site, and the percentage of particles that impact the surface. These regions of resurfacing can often be observed with different colors or spectral properties than the original surface. We find that there are trends in ejecta end-states as a function of binary system properties (i.e., primary rotation period and system mass ratio) for several common impact scenarios. We analyzed the dominant effect that influences the outcome of each impact event.

Astronomical Observations
Astronomical Observations

Author: Erik Gregersen Associate Editor, Astronomy and Space Exploration

Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc

Published: 2009-12-20

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1615300252

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Presents an overview of the history of astronomy, discusses the tools and technology associated with it, profiles noted astronomers, and explores the effect of expanding astronomical knowledge on modern society.