Publication Date:
2014-02-15
Description:
The near-Earth asteroid belt is continuously replenished with material originally moving in Amor-class orbits. Here, the orbit of the dynamically interesting Amor-class asteroid 2012 XH 16 is analysed. This asteroid was discovered with the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) at the Mt Graham International Observatory as part of an ongoing asteroid survey focused on astrometry and photometry. The orbit of the asteroid was computed using 66 observations (57 obtained with VATT and 9 from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory-Spacewatch II project) to give a = 1.63 au, e = 0.36, i = 3 $_{.}^{\circ}$ 76. The absolute magnitude of the asteroid is 22.3 which translates into a diameter in the range 104–231 m, assuming the average albedos of S-type and C-type asteroids, respectively. We have used the current orbit to study the future dynamical evolution of the asteroid under the perturbations of the planets and the Moon, relativistic effects, and the Yarkovsky force. Asteroid 2012 XH 16 is locked close to the strong 1:2 mean motion resonance with the Earth. The object shows stable evolution and could survive in near-resonance for a relatively long period of time despite experiencing frequent close encounters with Mars. Moreover, results of our computations show that the asteroid 2012 XH 16 can survive in the Amor region at most for about 200–400 Myr. The evolution is highly chaotic with a characteristic Lyapunov time of 245 yr. Jupiter is the main perturber but the effects of Saturn, Mars and the Earth–Moon system are also important. In particular, secular resonances with Saturn are significant.
Print ISSN:
0035-8711
Electronic ISSN:
1365-2966
Topics:
Physics
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