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arXiv · 2410.20015

An attempt to build a dynamical catalog of Solar System co-orbitals

Nicolas Pan·Tabaré Gallardo
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Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to fully study 1:1 mean-motion resonance in the Solar System. We calculated stability points applying a resonant semi-analytic theory valid for any value of eccentricity or inclination. The location of each equilibrium point changes as the orbital elements of an object change, which led us to map the location of them. For the case of low inclination and low eccentricity we recovered the known L4 and L5 points. The three global types of orbits for this resonance; Tadpoles, Quasi-satellites and Horseshoes, vary as a function of the orbital elements, even disappearing for some cases. In order to build a catalog of real co-orbital objects, we filtered the NASA Horizons asteroids catalog inside the maximum resonant width and analyzed which objects are indeed in resonance. In total, we found 167 objects to be in co-orbital resonant motion with Solar System planets excluding Jupiter. We were able to recover all the already known objects and to confirm the resonant state of some new ones. Mercury remains to be the only planet with zero known co-orbitals and no L5 Earth Trojan has been discovered so far. Among the interesting identified orbits we highlight the one of 2021 FV1, a new Mars Quasi-satellite. Despite having circulating critical angles, we found some objects to be dynamically driven by the resonance such as 2012 QR50.

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Nicolas Pan, Tabaré Gallardo. 2024-10-26. An attempt to build a dynamical catalog of Solar System co-orbitals. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10569-024-10234-y

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