Influence of trans-neptunian objects on motion of major planets and limitation on the total TNO mass from planet and spacecraft ranging

Abstract

AbstractPerturbations from asteroids and Trans-Neptunian Objects affect significantly on the orbits of planets and should be taken into account when high-accuracy planetary ephemerides are constructed. On the other hand, from an analysis of motion of the major planets by processing of precise measurements of spacecraft a limitation on the total TNO mass may be obtained. To estimate influence of TNO on motion of planets the largest 21 TNO have been included into the process of simultaneous numerical integration, and positions of planets obtained with taking for TNO have been compared with positions of planets of numerical EPM ephemeris of IAA RAS constructed without these objects. The perturbations of other TNO have been modeled by the perturbation from a circular ring having a radius 43 AU and different masses. It has been shown that all the test masses of the TNO ring except the minimum mass (5.26⋅10−8M⊙) are too large and make the data residuals worse. Thus, the upper limit of the total mass of all TNO including Pluto, the 21 largest TNO and the TNO ring (with the 43 AU radius) should not exceed 8.04⋅10−8M⊙.