Studying the fractal properties of Ceres

Abstract

Currently, the asteroid Ceres belongs to small celestial bodies with the most well-known physical parameters. The study of the structural and real properties of Ceres is an urgent and modern task, the solution of which will make it possible to develop the evolutionary theory of a minor planet. In this work, the fractal properties of the dwarf planet Ceres were analyzed using data from the Dawn space mission. Using the expansion in a harmonic series in spherical functions the height parameters of the structural model of Ceres, a 3D model of Ceres was constructed. The analysis showed that the resulting system has a complex multiparameter fractal configuration. The study of such objects requires the use of harmonic multiparameter methods. Multivariate fractal analysis allows to represent systems similar to the Ceres model in the form of a spectrum of fractal dimensions. The advantage of fractal analysis is the ability to explore local areas of the physical surface. In this work, the Minkowski algorithm was used for this purpose. At the final stage, an overdetermined system was solved for various local areas of topocentric information in order to postulate a model that takes into account external measures. Fractal dimensions D are determined for local regions and the entire model of the planet. Fractal dimensions vary from 1.37 to 1.92 depending on the longitude and latitude of Ceres. The main results are as follows: 1) the structure of the Ceres surface varies more strongly in longitude; 2) the structure of Ceres is smoother in latitude; 3) the coefficient of self-similarity changes rather quickly in longitude, which indicates that different local regions of the minor planet were formed under the influence of various physical processes. It is necessary to emphasize that the resulting fractal dimensions are significantly scattered both in longitude and latitude of Ceres. This fact confirms the presence of a complex structure in the spatial model of a minor planet. This also applies to the actual physical surface of Ceres. The results of the work allow us to conclude that fractal modeling can give independent values of the fractal dimension both for the entire model of Ceres and for its local macrostructural regions.