| Issue |
A&A
Volume 688, August 2024
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | A119 | |
| Number of page(s) | 9 | |
| Section | Celestial mechanics and astrometry | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202450246 | |
| Published online | 09 August 2024 | |
Apsidal precession in binary asteroids
Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder,
3775 Discover Dr,
Boulder,
CO
80303,
USA
e-mail: alex.meyer@colorado.edu
Received:
4
April
2024
Accepted:
6
June
2024
While the secondary in a binary asteroid plays an important role in the precession of the mutual orbit, this role has not been thoroughly studied. Given the complex spin-orbit-coupled dynamics in binary asteroids, we used a numerical approach to study the relationship between the secondary’s shape and spin and the apsidal precession rate of the orbit. Using this approach in conjunction with observations of Didymos, we find it is likely that Dimorphos was significantly reshaped as a result of the DART impact, with its new shape more elongated than the pre-impact shape. Finally, we show that non-principal axis rotation of the secondary can lead to a chaotic evolution of the longitude of the periapsis.
Key words: methods: numerical / celestial mechanics / minor planets, asteroids: general / minor planets, asteroids: individual: Didymos
© The Authors 2024
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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