Asteroid encounters suitable for mass determinations

¹ Astronomical Institute, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
² Project Pluto, 168 Ridge Road, Bowdoinham, ME 04008, USA

Corresponding author: A. Galád, galad@fmph.uniba.sk

Received: 19 December 2001
Accepted: 28 May 2002

Abstract

As in a previous paper (Galád [CITE]), the search for effective perturbers among asteroids is done using the same method and during the same time period. The only difference is in the number of asteroids that were processed – 24 599 instead of 9511. Special attention is paid to comparison between perturbations due to (2) Pallas and (10) Hygiea. It is confirmed that the latter has a larger effect on the motion of main belt asteroids, perhaps by a factor of three. This is a reason to include its mass in asteroid orbit determinations.
In addition to the Big Four main belt asteroids – (1) Ceres, (2) Pallas, (4) Vesta, (10) Hygiea – the masses of many other large asteroids, such as (11) Parthenope, (13) Egeria, (15) Eunomia, (16) Psyche, (24) Themis, (29) , (39) Laetitia, (45) Eugenia, (52) Europa, (65) , (121) Hermione, (451) Patientia, and (511) Davida, could be achieved by the end of this decade using astrometric data. In general, over the next decade small asteroids (with much higher numbers than above) will be used more thoroughly for mass determination of large asteroids.