On the stability of dust particle orbits around cometary nuclei

Details On the stability of dust particle orbits around cometary nuclei On the stability of dust particle orbits around cometary nuclei

Apr 1995

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995icar..114..355r&link_type=abstract

Icarus (ISSN 0019-1035), vol. 114, no. 2, p. 355-371

Computer Science

16

Angular Momentum, Comet Nuclei, Comets, Dust, Eccentric Orbits, Orbit Calculation, Orbital Elements, Radiation Pressure, Solar Radiation, Stability, Gas Dynamics, Orbit Perturbation, Tidal Waves

Scientific paper

A new analytic solution for the limit of weak solar radiation pressure force acting on dust particles around a spherical body in an eccentric orbit (e.g., comet) is presented. The closed solution of this radiation pressure approximation, here called RPA, is remarkably simple. The components of the orbit angular momentum vector of a dust particle and the components of an auxiliary vector, both projected onto a cometocentric coordinate system that rotates with the true anomaly of the cometary orbital motion vary sinusoidally with the true anomaly of the comet. A geometrical model is derived that provides the separation of an initial phase angle, a frequency, and three additional independent parameters covering the full variety of solutions. From the RPA and the appropiate geometrical model, conditions are derived under which the orbital eccentricities remain enough to avoid collisions of the dust particles with the nucleus over one cycle of the angular momentum variation. Limits of the RPA are evaluated by numerical calculations of dust particle trajectories. The RPA is used to study the influence of the radiation pressure force on the orbital evolution of (large) dust particles in the size range up to decimeters around cometary nuclei. For larger dust particles the tidal force overcomes the decreasing radiation pressure force. A nonspherical rotating nucleus and gas dynamical acceleration processes cause additional perturbations that are typical for comets. The effects of these forces are compared to those of the RPA model using Comet Halley as an example. Lifetimes of dust particles on bound orbits and the stability of their diverse orbits are discussed with regard to observations of large particles in the vicinity of comets. Particles orbiting the nucleus since its last apparition may contribute to the particles observed by radar from ground.

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