Determining asteroid masses from perturbations on Mars

Details Determining asteroid masses from perturbations on Mars Determining asteroid masses from perturbations on Mars

Jan 1984

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1984icar...57....1w&link_type=abstract

Icarus (ISSN 0019-1035), vol. 57, Jan. 1984, p. 1-13. NASA-supported research.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

36

Asteroids, Mars (Planet), Orbit Perturbation, Planetary Mass, Viking Lander Spacecraft, Ceres Asteroid, Ephemeris Time, Gravitational Constant, Spatial Distribution, Vesta Asteroid, Mars, Asteroids, Mass, Perturbations, Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Period, Amplitude, Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, Viking Missions, Landers, Gravity Effects, Motion

Scientific paper

The orbit of Mars is perturbed more than 5 m, a value compatible with the accuracy of the Viking Lander ranging data, by about three dozen asteroids. In addition to larger asteroids throughout the belt, significant perturbations of long period are generated by smaller objects near commensurabilities with Mars. The largest periodic terms induced by 1 Ceres and 2 Pallas have amplitudes of 0.8 and 0.2 km, respectively, both with 10-year periods. Due to a near commensurability, 4 Vesta causes a 5-km, 52-year term. While the Viking ranges will yield significant mass determinations for the largest three asteroids, and some of the smaller bodies should be detectable, it will be difficult to separate the smaller bodies with useful accuracies. Accurate discrimination must await range data from future missions to Mars or other bodies in the neighborhood of the asteroid belt. The Viking ranges can also yield improved masses for the outer planets (except Pluto), an application which is being exploited by groups analyzing these data. Uncertainties in the asteroid masses limit the ultimate accuracy of the Viking determinations of both the long time scale motion of the system of the inner four planets with respect to an inertial frame and the rate of change of the gravitational constant.

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