Asteroid 2014 YX$_\mathbf {49}$: a large transient Trojan of Uranus

Abstract

In the outer Solar system, primordial Trojan asteroids may have remained dynamically stable for billions of years. • 83), is larger (absolute magnitude of 8.5 versus 9.7) and its libration period is slightly shorter (5.1 versus 5.9 kyr); contrary to 2011 QF 99 , its discovery was not the result of a targeted survey. It is less stable than 2011 QF 99 ; our extensive N-body simulations show that 2014 YX 49 may have been following a tadpole trajectory ahead of Uranus for about 60 kyr and it can continue doing so for another 80 kyr. Our analysis suggests that it may remain as co-orbital for nearly 1 Myr. As in the case of 2011 QF 99 , the long-term stability of 2014 YX 49 is controlled by Jupiter and Neptune, but it is currently trapped in the 7:20 mean motion resonance with Saturn. Consistently, the dynamical mechanism leading to the capture into and the ejection from the Trojan state involves ephemeral multibody mean motion resonances.

Search for L5 Earth Trojans with DECam

“…ETs are asteroids that orbit near the Earth-Sun L4 or L5 Lagrange points (60°ahead or behind the Earth, respectively). Trojan asteroids have been discovered accompanying other planets, including Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, E-mail: lmmarkwa@umich.edu and Neptune (de la Fuente Marcos & de la Fuente Marcos 2014;Ivezić et al 2001;Morbidelli et al 2005;Yoshida & Terai 2017;Almeida et al 2009;Lin et al 2019;de la Fuente Marcos & de la Fuente Marcos 2017). In contrast, only one ET has been found, 2010 TK 7 , which was discovered serendipitously by WISE (Connors et al 2011).…”

Binary stripping as a plausible origin of correlated pairs of extreme trans-Neptunian objects

“…On the one hand, absence of detection bias is advocated by Trujillo and Sheppard (2014), and by Batygin and Brown (2016), Brown and Batygin (2016) and Brown (2017), while Bannister et al (2017), Lawler et al (2017) and Shankman et al (2017aShankman et al ( , 2017b argue that strong detection biases may actually exist. De la Fuente Marcos and de la Fuente Marcos (2014) showed that there is indeed an intrinsic bias in declination, δ, induced by our observing point on Earth; when observed at perihelion or very near it (see their fig. 2), most ETNOs will be discovered at |δ| < 24 • no matter how complete and extensive the surveys are.…”

“…The number of ETNOs included in the database of the Minor Planet Center 1 (MPC) stands at 28 (as of 2017 August 29), but at least one additional candidate object has already been announced (V774104 by Sheppard et al 2015). The orbits of the ETNOs do not fit within an eight-planets-only Solar System, but the presence of one or more yet-to-be-discovered planetary bodies orbiting the Sun well beyond Neptune may be able to explain most, if not all, of the unexpected orbital characteristics displayed by the known ETNOs (de la Fuente Marcos and de la Fuente Marcos 2014Marcos , 2016aMarcos , 2016bMarcos , 2016cTrujillo and Sheppard 2014;Gomes et al 2015;Batygin and Brown 2016;Brown and Batygin 2016;Malhotra et al 2016;Sheppard and Trujillo 2016;Millholland and Laughlin 2017). This scenario is often referred to as the trans-Plutonian planets paradigm.…”

Captured Small Solar System Bodies in the Ice Giant Region

“…As with the Saturnian Trojans, the primordial Uranian Trojans deplete quickly (Alexandersen et al, 2014, de la Fuente & de la Fuente, 2014. The difference is, however, two Uranian Trojans have been discovered, 2011 QF 99 and 2014 YX 49 (Alexandersen et al, 2014, de la Fuente & de la Fuente, 2017. Both of these large, up to 100 km plus objects are temporary captures and will move onto Centar like orbits within the next one to three million years.…”