Physics
Scientific paper
Jun 1992
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992natur.357..569m&link_type=abstract
Nature (ISSN 0028-0836), vol. 357, no. 6379, June 18, 1992, p. 569-571. Research supported by ESA and NATO.
Physics
67
Chaos, Eccentric Orbits, Solar Orbits, Solar System, Systems Stability, Asteroids, Gravitational Effects, Liapunov Functions, Orbital Resonances (Celestial Mechanics), Perturbation Theory
Scientific paper
It is shown here that the orbit of the near-Jupiter asteroid 522 Helga is chaotic, with an unusually short Liapunov time of 6900 yr. Its motion, including perturbations from the outer giant planets, is integrated over a period 1000 times longer than this, and no significant instability is found. Chaos in the orbit of 522 Helga is caused by a 7:12 resonance with the orbit of Jupiter, but the size of the chaotic region in phase space is small; stability is ensured because the eccentricity and precession of the orbit are such that it avoids close encounters with Jupiter. Asteroid orbits with larger proper eccentricity would, it is suggested, be genuinely unstable, consistent with the sparse asteroid population near Helga. Although Helga is the first clear-cut example of a stable chaotic orbit, it is argued that 'stable chaos' may be a rather common feature of Solar System dynamics.
Milani Andrea
Nobili Anna M.
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