The effect of the radiation pressure on the orbital evolution of geosynchronous objects

The effect of the radiation pressure and Poynting-Robertson effect on the evolution of the orbits of geosynchronous satellites is studied, depending on their area to mass ratio. The qualitative changes of the orbital evolution caused by these disturbances are considered. The reflection coefficient of the satellite’s surface was assumed to be 1.44. In the vicinity of the stable point with the longitude of 75° the exit from the libration resonance mode was registered when the area to mass ratio value changed from 5.9 to 6.0 m²/kg; in the vicinity of the unstable point at 345° with the area to mass ratio of 1.4 it occurred at 1.5 m²/kg. Re-entry to Earth occurs at values of the area to mass ratio above 32.2 m²/kg, and hyperbolic exit from the low-Earth orbit occurs at values of the area to mass ratio over 5267 m²/kg. At high values of the area to mass ratio, slopes of initially equatorial orbits can reach 49°. It is shown that due to the Poynting-Robertson effect the secular decrease in the semimajor axis of orbit in libration resonance region is 3–4 orders of magnitude less than outside of it.     

Effect of the high-order resonances on the orbital evolution of objects near geostationary orbit

The area-to-mass ratio of high-orbit space objects is estimated on the basis of positional observations from the SBG telescope at the Kourovka astronomical observatory of the Ural Federal University. The properties of regions where high-order resonances are located are analyzed. The position and sizes of the resonance zones depending on the area-to-mass ratio of objects are determined on the basis of numerical modeling. It is shown that a system transits through the high-order resonances due to secular perturbations of the semimajor axis under the Poynting-Robertson effect. The high-order resonances weakly influence the formation of the stochastic trajectories. The stochastic properties are mostly manifested in evolution of the semimajor axis of the orbit.     

The effect of secular resonances on the long-term orbital evolution of uncontrollable objects on satellite radio navigation systems in the MEO region

We present the results of the study of long-term orbital evolution of space debris objects, formed from end-of-life space vehicles (SV) of satellite radio navigation systems in the medium Earth orbit (MEO) region. Dynamical features of the evolution of objects in this region have been studied on the basis of 20-year laser surveillance with the Etalon-1 and Etalon-2 satellites and the results of numerical simulation of the long-term evolution of operating and disposal orbits of uncontrolled GLONASS and GPS SVs. It is shown that perturbations from secular lunisolar resonances produce an eccentricity growth for orbits with inclinations chosen for navigation constellations; this significantly changes the positions of these orbits in space and results in the ingress of end-of-life objects into the area of operating SVs.     

The orbital evolution of NEAs and the resonances with Jupiter

two near-earth-asteroids associated with resonances with Jupiter are studied over a time span of 10⁵ yrs. We found that asteroid (887) is temporary trapped in the 3:1 resonance; thus indicating that this resonance could be a source of short-lived NEAs. We also found that asteroid (3552) with a large eccentricity and a high inclination is wandering about the 1:1 resonant region.     

Secular resonances as a source of dynamic chaoticity in the long-term orbital evolution of uncontrolled satellites

We present the results of MEGNO analysis of the long-term orbital evolution of uncontrolled objects of satellite radio navigation systems in medium Earth orbits and geostationary orbits. It is shown that secular resonances affecting these objects may give rise to dynamic randomness in their long-term orbital evolution.     

A proposed search of the solar neighborhood for substellar objects

The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) program will produce an extremely sensitive all-sky survey over the wavelength region 8 to 120 μm when the mission is flown in 1982. These data will provide a novel opportunity to detect planetary-sized objects having masses <0.08M_⊙ or near our solar system. The improved detection limit of the IRAS will greatly increase the volume of space searched for such objects as compared with previous optical and infrared studies.     

Orbital correlation of space objects based on orbital elements

Orbital correlation of space objects is one of the most important elements in space object identification. Using the orbital elements, we provide correlation criteria to determine if objects are coplanar,co-orbital or the same. We analyze the prediction error of the correlation parameters for different orbital types and propose an orbital correlation method for space objects. The method is validated using two line elements and multisatellite launching data. The experimental results show that the proposed method is effective, especially for space objects in near-circular orbits.     

On the evolution of astrophysical objects

A scenario is suggested for the development of astrophysical objects. The equations derived are applied to the protostar—T Tauri star—flare star evolutionary sequence. The ages of the Orion, NGC 2264, and NGC 7000 stellar associations are estimated.Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 83–96, January–February, 1994.In conclusion, I wish to thank Professor L. V. Mirzoyan for very useful critical remarks, allowance for which considerably influenced the quality of this paper.     

The effect of orbital evolution on the Haumea (2003 EL61) collisional family

The Haumea family is currently the only identified collisional family in the Kuiper belt. We numerically simulate the long-term dynamical evolution of the family to estimate a lower limit of the family’s age and to assess how the population of the family and its dynamical clustering are preserved over Gyr timescales. We find that the family is not younger than 100 Myr, and its age is at least 1 Gyr with 95% confidence. We find that for initial velocity dispersions of 50–400 m s^?1, approximately 20–45% of the family members are lost to close encounters with Neptune after 3.5 Gyr of orbital evolution. We apply these loss rates to two proposed models for the formation of the Haumea family, a graze-and-merge type collision between two similarly sized, differentiated KBOs or the collisional disruption of a satellite orbiting Haumea. For the graze-and-merge collision model, we calculate that >85% of the expected mass in surviving family members within 150 m s^?1 of the collision has been identified, but that one to two times the mass of the known family members remains to be identified at larger velocities. For the satellite-break-up model, we estimate that the currently identified family members account for ～50% of the expected mass of the family. Taking observational incompleteness into account, the observed number of Haumea family members is consistent with either formation scenario at the 1σ level, however both models predict more objects at larger relative velocities (>150 m s^?1) than have been identified.     

Sweeping of the Jovian resonances and the evolution of the asteroids

During the formation of the solar system the variation of the gravitational field produced by removal of a nebula with its moderately massive accretion disk led to sweeping of the Jovian commensurability resonances through the asteroid zone. This process produced increased eccentricities and random velocities of the early planetesimals which resulted in collisional comminution rather than accretion. The existence of the asteroids, their low mass density, and their high relative velocities are interpreted as due to disruption of the accretion processes of the terrestrial planets by the influence of Jupiter.     

The effect of back pressure on the contact evolution of a close binary system

The contact condition which includes the effect of pressure in common envelope is derived and employed in the evolutionary calculation of a close binary system in contact phase. The result indicates that the effect is negligibly small and the equality of surface potentials of both components is a sufficiently good approximation for the contact condition.Paper presented at the IAU Third Asian-Pacific Regional Meeting, held in Kyoto, Japan, between 30 September–6 October, 1984.     

A search for nearby counterparts to the moving objects in the Hubble Deep Field

Ibata et al. have recently discovered very faint, moving objects in the Hubble Deep Field (HDF). The number, apparent magnitudes and proper motions of these objects are consistent with old white dwarfs making up part of the Galactic dark halo. We review a number of ground-based proper motion surveys in which nearby dark-halo white dwarfs might be present, if they have the colours and absolute magnitudes proposed. No such objects have been found, whereas we argue here that several times more would be expected than in the HDF. We conclude that it is unlikely that hydrogen-atmosphere white dwarfs make up a significant fraction of the Galactic dark matter. No limits can be placed as yet on helium-atmosphere dwarfs from optical searches.     

Redshift distribution in extragalactic objects and evolution of galaxies

In order to see whether the study of redshift distribution in different classes of extragalactic objects, suspected of belonging to different phases in the evolutionary sequence of galaxies, helps in arriving at a possible picture of the evolutionary sequence of galaxies, histograms have been plotted between the number and the redshift for each of the five classes of extragalactic objects, namely, the QSOs, N-galaxies, Seyfert galaxies, radio galaxies and normal galaxies. It is found that: (i) the highest peaks in the five histograms occur at distinctly different redshifts in the order (Z _peak)_QSOs>(Z _peak)_N-galaxies>(Z _peak)_{Seyfert galaxies}>(Z _peak)_{radio galaxies}> (Z _peak)_{normal galaxies} and (ii) sufficient overlap occurs in the redshift ranges of (a) QSOs and N-galaxies, (b) N-galaxies and Seyfert galaxies, (c) Seyfert galaxies and radio galaxies and (d) radio galaxies and normal galaxies. These facts suggest that the extragalactic objects might be evolving in the sequence: QSOsN-galaxiesSeyfert galaxiesradio galaxiesnormal galaxies. Other independent evidences in support of such an evolutionary sequence have been given. Finally, various aspects of the problem associated with the picture of the evolutionary sequence of galaxies have been critically examined.     

Late-stage impacts and the orbital and thermal evolution of Tethys

An inferred ancient episode of heating and deformation on Tethys has been attributed to its passage through a 3:2 resonance with Dione (Chen, E.M.A., Nimmo, F. [2008]. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, 19203). The satellites encounter, and are trapped into, the e-Dione resonance before reaching the e-Tethys resonance, limiting the degree to which Tethys is tidally heated. However, for an initial Dione eccentricity >0.016, Tethys’ eccentricity becomes large enough to generate the inferred heat flow via tidal dissipation. While capture into the e-Dione resonance is easy, breaking the resonance (to allow Tethys to evolve to its current state) is very difficult. The resonance is stable even for large initial Dione eccentricities, and is not broken by perturbations from nearby resonances (e.g. the Rhea–Dione 5:3 resonance). Our preferred explanation is that the Tethyan impactor which formed the younger Odysseus impact basin also broke the 3:2 resonance. Simultaneously satisfying the observed basin size and the requirement to break the resonance requires a large (≈250 km diameter) and slow (≈0.5 km/s) impactor, possibly a saturnian satellite in a nearby crossing orbit with Tethys. Late-stage final impacts of this kind are a common feature of satellite formation models (Canup, R.M., Ward, W.R. [2006]. Nature 441, 834–839).     

Geopotential harmonics of order 15 and 30, derived from the orbital resonances of 25 satellites

The recent accurate analysis of the satellite 1965-14A at 15th-order resonance has allowed significantly improved solutions to be derived for the individual harmonic coefficients in the geopotential of order 15 and 30. For order 15, coefficients of degree 15–36 have been evaluated (Tables 3 and 5); for degree 15–23, the mean accuracy is equivalent to 0.6 cm in geoid height; but the accuracy is poorer for degree 24–36, averaging 2.4 cm. For order 30, only the coefficients of even degree, from 30 to 40, have been evaluated (Table 8): for degree 30 and 32 the accuracy is equivalent to 1 cm in geoid height, but deteriorates to 2 cm for higher degree. The accuracies for 15th order, though in need of improvement for high degree, are better than tl ose available for any other order, and are already of the standard required for achieving in the 1990s the very difficult goal of a comprehensive geoid accurate to 10cm.