Study of the Dynamics of Asteroids – Companions to Venus

Abstract

The present work is devoted to a study of motion of near-Earth asteroids (NEA) 2002 VE68 and 2013 ND15 moving in the vicinity of the 1:1 resonance with Venus. To construct the probability domain of these NEA, 10 thousand clones covering the initial probability domain of the object were used. The investigation time intervals chosen individually are 4500 and 1520 years, respectively. The orbit of asteroid 2013 ND15 is illdefined that allows no conclusion to be made on its capture in a resonance. The given object regularly approaches to Mercury, Venus, and the Earth thereby causing a substantial growth of the probability domain. Our study shows that new observations of the asteroid from the Earth surface are impossible till 2021. An analysis of the evolution of the average MEGNO parameter demonstrates that the predictability time of motion of the given object is about 250 years. Asteroid 2002 VE68 behaves differently. A study of perturbation structure demonstrates that for this object it is necessary to take into account the influence of major planets, the Moon, the Sun oblateness, and relativistic effects of the Sun. On the entire investigation time interval the asteroid moves in the vicinity of stable resonance and its critical argument librates. Asteroid 2002 VE68 approaches to Mercury and Venus, but not very close. The predictability time of motion is about 800 years.