Lunar ejecta origin of near-Earth asteroid Kamo`oalewa is compatible with rare orbital pathways

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Castro-Cisneros, Jose Daniel, Malhotra, Renu, Rosengren, Aaron J.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
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author Castro-Cisneros, Jose Daniel
Malhotra, Renu
Rosengren, Aaron J.
author_facet Castro-Cisneros, Jose Daniel
Malhotra, Renu
Rosengren, Aaron J.
contents Near-Earth asteroid, Kamo'oalewa (469219), is one of a small number of known quasi-satellites of Earth; it transitions between quasi-satellite and horseshoe orbital states on centennial timescales, maintaining this dynamics over megayears. The similarity of its reflectance spectrum to lunar silicates and its Earth-like orbit both suggest that it originated from the lunar surface. Here we carry out numerical simulations of the dynamical evolution of particles launched from different locations on the lunar surface with a range of ejection velocities in order to assess the hypothesis that Kamo`oalewa originated as a debris-fragment from a meteoroidal impact with the lunar surface. As these ejecta escape the Earth-Moon environment, they face a dynamical barrier for entry into Earth's co-orbital space. However, a small fraction of launch conditions yields outcomes that are compatible with Kamo`oalewa's orbit. The most favored conditions are launch velocities slightly above the escape velocity from the trailing lunar hemisphere.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2304_14136
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Lunar ejecta origin of near-Earth asteroid Kamo`oalewa is compatible with rare orbital pathways
Castro-Cisneros, Jose Daniel
Malhotra, Renu
Rosengren, Aaron J.
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Space Physics
Near-Earth asteroid, Kamo'oalewa (469219), is one of a small number of known quasi-satellites of Earth; it transitions between quasi-satellite and horseshoe orbital states on centennial timescales, maintaining this dynamics over megayears. The similarity of its reflectance spectrum to lunar silicates and its Earth-like orbit both suggest that it originated from the lunar surface. Here we carry out numerical simulations of the dynamical evolution of particles launched from different locations on the lunar surface with a range of ejection velocities in order to assess the hypothesis that Kamo`oalewa originated as a debris-fragment from a meteoroidal impact with the lunar surface. As these ejecta escape the Earth-Moon environment, they face a dynamical barrier for entry into Earth's co-orbital space. However, a small fraction of launch conditions yields outcomes that are compatible with Kamo`oalewa's orbit. The most favored conditions are launch velocities slightly above the escape velocity from the trailing lunar hemisphere.
title Lunar ejecta origin of near-Earth asteroid Kamo`oalewa is compatible with rare orbital pathways
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Space Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.14136