Orbit classification in the planar circular Pluto-Charon system

Zotos, Euaggelos E.

doi:10.1007/s10509-015-2523-0

Cited by 17 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In particular, Showalter & Hamilton (2015) conjectured that non-spherical moons may rotate chaotically with no resonance required. An orbit classification on the Pluto-Charon system is provided in Zotos (2015), in which the author, using numerical simulations on the gravitational potential generated by the binary system, distinguishes three types of orbits (bounded, escaping, and collisional) depending on their initial conditions. In Correia et al (2015), the spinorbit coupling for a non-spherical satellite orbiting around a binary system was studied, with a particular application to the small moons of the Pluto-Charon system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chaotic Dynamics in the Planar Gravitational Many-Body Problem with Rigid Body Rotations

Kwiecinski

Kovács

Krause

et al. 2018

Int. J. Bifurcation Chaos

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The discovery of Pluto's small moons in the last decade brought attention to the dynamics of the dwarf planet's satellites. With such systems in mind, we study a planar N -body system in which all the bodies are point masses, except for a single rigid body. We then present a reduced model consisting of a planar N -body problem with the rigid body treated as a 1D continuum (i.e. the body is treated as a rod with an arbitrary mass distribution). Such a model provides a good approximation to highly asymmetric geometries, such as the recently observed interstellar asteroid 'Oumuamua, but is also amenable to analysis. We analytically demonstrate the existence of homoclinic chaos in the case where one of the orbits is nearly circular by way of the Melnikov method, and give numerical evidence for chaos when the orbits are more complicated. We show that the extent of chaos in parameter space is strongly tied to the deviations from a purely circular orbit. These results suggest that chaos is ubiquitous in many-body problems when one or more of the rigid bodies exhibits non-spherical and highly asymmetric geometries. The excitation of chaotic rotations does not appear to require tidal dissipation, obliquity variation, or orbital resonance. Such dynamics give a possible explanation for routes to chaotic dynamics observed in N -body systems such as the Pluto system where some of the bodies are highly non-spherical.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chaotic Dynamics in the Planar Gravitational Many-Body Problem with Rigid Body Rotations

Kwiecinski

Kovács

Krause

et al. 2018

Int. J. Bifurcation Chaos

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“…On this basis, the observed preference for escape through exit channel 2 is due to the particular choice of the initial conditions. Similar choices of initial conditions of orbits can be found in several earlier related papers (e.g., [13,33,34,[67][68][69] to the secondary. (ii) the criteria for distinguishing between the several types of the orbits are different.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Orbit classification in the Hill problem: I. The classical case

Zotos

2017

Nonlinear Dyn

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The case of the classical Hill problem is numerically investigated by performing a thorough and systematic classification of the initial conditions of the orbits. More precisely, the initial conditions of the orbits are classified into four categories: (i) non-escaping regular orbits; (ii) trapped chaotic orbits; (iii) escaping orbits; and (iv) collision orbits. In order to obtain a more general and complete view of the orbital structure of the dynamical system our exploration takes place in both planar (2D) and the spatial (3D) version of the Hill problem. For the 2D system we numerically integrate large sets of initial conditions in several types of planes, while for the system with three degrees of freedom, three-dimensional distributions of initial conditions of orbits are examined. For distinguishing between ordered and chaotic bounded motion the Smaller ALingment Index (SALI) method is used. We managed to locate the several bounded basins, as well as the basins of escape and collision and also to relate them with the corresponding escape and collision time of the orbits. Our numerical calculations indicate that the overall orbital dynamics of the Hamiltonian system is a complicated but highly interested problem. We hope our contribution to be useful for a further understanding of the orbital properties of the classical Hill problem.

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“…The analytical definition of SALI, as well as the particular threshold values for distinguishing between ordered and chaotic motion are given in Zotos & Jung (2018). The classifications of the long-term orbits around Charon can be obtained by the value of the SALI quantitatively, including (i) bounded (regular or chaotic), (ii) escaping and (iii) collision (Zotos, 2015). Essentially, other diagnostic indexes for the orbital chaos, such as the the fast Lyapunov indicator (FLI) (Astakhov & Farrelly, 2004), the correlation dimension (Belbruno et al, 2008), and the frequency analysis method (Laskar, 1990), can also be applied to distinguish stable regular orbits from chaotic ones.…”

Section: Long-term Capturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Zotos (2015) the orbital dynamics in the planar circular Pluto-Charon system were numerically investigated. More specifically, large sets of initial conditions of orbits were classified in an attempt to determine the dynamics of a test particle (e.g., a spacecraft, or a comet, or an asteroid) moving in the vicinity of Charon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Near-optimal capture in the planar circular restricted Pluto-Charon system

Zotos

2019

Planetary and Space Science

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In this paper, the near-optimal capture problem is numerically investigated to locate the optimal capture points around Charon using the Pluto-Charon planar circular restricted three-body problem (PCRTBP). Capture orbits are divided into the pre-and post-maneuver portions. In the pre-maneuver portion, the gravitational capture conditions are discussed by backward numerical integration. In the post-maneuver portion, the smaller alignment index (SALI) is applied to numerically investigate the orbital characters of long-term capture orbits around Charon. The initial conditions corresponding to three types of motion: (i) bounded (regular or chaotic), (ii) escaping and (iii) collisional are classified and studied. Combining results of the pre-and post-maneuver portions, the near-optimal capture method is presented to find optimal capture points by overlay figures, and then the corresponding capture orbits are constructed in the PCRTBP. The different results between the Pluto-Charon system and the Earth-Moon system are compared and analyzed. Our results obtained in this paper, including the optimal capture points and the corresponding capture orbits, could be applied in future space mission design.

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Orbit classification in the planar circular Pluto-Charon system

Cited by 17 publications

References 22 publications

Chaotic Dynamics in the Planar Gravitational Many-Body Problem with Rigid Body Rotations

Chaotic Dynamics in the Planar Gravitational Many-Body Problem with Rigid Body Rotations

Orbit classification in the Hill problem: I. The classical case

Near-optimal capture in the planar circular restricted Pluto-Charon system

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