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Small asteroids temporarily captured in the Earth-Moon system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2016

Robert Jedicke ,
Bryce Bolin ,
William F. Bottke ,
Monique Chyba ,
Grigori Fedorets ,
Mikael Granvik  and
Geoff Patterson
Robert Jedicke
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Dr., Honolulu, HI, United States email: [email protected]
Bryce Bolin
Affiliation:
Nice Observatory, Nice, France email: [email protected]
William F. Bottke
Affiliation:
Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, United States email: [email protected]
Monique Chyba
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii, Dept. of Mathematics, Honolulu, HI, United States email: [email protected], [email protected]
Grigori Fedorets
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland email: [email protected], [email protected]
Mikael Granvik
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland email: [email protected], [email protected]
Geoff Patterson
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii, Dept. of Mathematics, Honolulu, HI, United States email: [email protected], [email protected]
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Abstract

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We present an update on our work on understanding the population of natural objects that are temporarily captured in the Earth-Moon system like the 2-3 meter diameter, 2006 RH120, that was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey. We use the term ‘minimoon’ to refer to objects that are gravitationally bound to the Earth-Moon system, make at least one revolution around the barycenter in a co-rotating frame relative to the Earth-Sun axis, and are within 3 Earth Hill-sphere radii. There are one or two 1 to 2 meter diameter minimoons in the steady state population at any time, and about a dozen larger than 50 cm diameter. ‘Drifters’ are also bound to the Earth-Moon system but make less than one revolution about the barycenter. The combined population of minimoons and drifters provide a new opportunity for scientific exploration of small asteroids and testing concepts for in-situ resource utilization. These objects provide interesting challenges for rendezvous missions because of their limited lifetime and complicated trajectories. Furthermore, they are difficult to detect because they are small, available for a limited time period, and move quickly across the sky.

Keywords

meteorsmeteoroidsminor planetsasteroidsMoonplanets and satellites: generalsurveys
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 10 , Issue S318: Asteroids: New Observations, New Models , August 2015 , pp. 86 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2016 

References

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