Prediction for close approaches with terrestrial planets of asteroids from the main belt

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Zhou, Yufan Fane, Li, Zhiyuan, Li, Hailiang, Zhou, Liyong
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866929720053989376
author Zhou, Yufan Fane
Li, Zhiyuan
Li, Hailiang
Zhou, Liyong
author_facet Zhou, Yufan Fane
Li, Zhiyuan
Li, Hailiang
Zhou, Liyong
contents Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs), a special subset of Near-Earth Objects, are both dangerous and scientifically valuable. PHAs that truly undergo close approaches with the Earth (dubbed CAPHAs) are of particular interest and extensively studied. The concept and study of CAPHA can be extended to other Solar system planets, which have significant implications for future planet-based observations and explorations. In this work, we conduct numerical simulations that incorporate the Yarkovsky effect to study the transformation of main belt asteroids into CAPHAs of terrestrial planets, using precise nominal timesteps, especially to ensure the reliability of the results for Mercury and Venus. Our simulations predict a total of 1893 Mercury-CAPHAs, 3014 Venus-CAPHAs, 3791 Earth-CAPHAs and 18066 Mars-CAPHAs, with an occurrence frequency of about 1, 9, 15 and 66 per year, respectively. The values for Mars-CAPHAs are consistent with our previous work, which were based on simulations with a larger nominal timestep. The predicted occurrence frequency and velocity distribution of Earth-CAPHAs are in reasonable agreement with the observed population of Earth-CAPHAs. We also find that certain asteroids can be caught in close approach with different planets at different times, raising an interesting possibility of using them as transportation between terrestrial planets in the future.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_13489
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Prediction for close approaches with terrestrial planets of asteroids from the main belt
Zhou, Yufan Fane
Li, Zhiyuan
Li, Hailiang
Zhou, Liyong
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs), a special subset of Near-Earth Objects, are both dangerous and scientifically valuable. PHAs that truly undergo close approaches with the Earth (dubbed CAPHAs) are of particular interest and extensively studied. The concept and study of CAPHA can be extended to other Solar system planets, which have significant implications for future planet-based observations and explorations. In this work, we conduct numerical simulations that incorporate the Yarkovsky effect to study the transformation of main belt asteroids into CAPHAs of terrestrial planets, using precise nominal timesteps, especially to ensure the reliability of the results for Mercury and Venus. Our simulations predict a total of 1893 Mercury-CAPHAs, 3014 Venus-CAPHAs, 3791 Earth-CAPHAs and 18066 Mars-CAPHAs, with an occurrence frequency of about 1, 9, 15 and 66 per year, respectively. The values for Mars-CAPHAs are consistent with our previous work, which were based on simulations with a larger nominal timestep. The predicted occurrence frequency and velocity distribution of Earth-CAPHAs are in reasonable agreement with the observed population of Earth-CAPHAs. We also find that certain asteroids can be caught in close approach with different planets at different times, raising an interesting possibility of using them as transportation between terrestrial planets in the future.
title Prediction for close approaches with terrestrial planets of asteroids from the main belt
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.13489