The transient Jupiter Trojan-like orbit of P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS)

Henry H. Hsieh; Alan Fitzsimmons; Bojan Novaković; Larry Denneau; Aren N. Heinze

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114019

The transient Jupiter Trojan-like orbit of P/2019 LD₂ (ATLAS)

Henry H. Hsieh^*, Alan Fitzsimmons, Bojan Novaković, Larry Denneau, Aren N. Heinze

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Comet P/2019 LD₂ has orbital elements currently resembling those of a Jupiter Trojan, and therefore superficially appears to represent a unique opportunity to study the volatile content and active behavior of a member of this population for the first time. However, numerical integrations show that it was previously a Centaur before reaching its current Jupiter Trojan-like orbit in 2018 July, and is expected to return to being a Centaur in 2028 February, before eventually becoming a Jupiter-family comet in 2063 February. The case of P/2019 LD₂ highlights the need for mechanisms to quickly and reliably dynamically classify small solar system bodies discovered in current and upcoming wide-field surveys.

Original language	English
Article number	114019
Journal	Icarus
Volume	354
Early online date	03 Aug 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114019
Publication status	Published - 15 Jan 2021

Keywords

Centaurs
Comets
Dynamics
Trojan asteroids

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

Access to Document

10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114019Licence: Unspecified

Cite this

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title = "The transient Jupiter Trojan-like orbit of P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS)",

abstract = "Comet P/2019 LD2 has orbital elements currently resembling those of a Jupiter Trojan, and therefore superficially appears to represent a unique opportunity to study the volatile content and active behavior of a member of this population for the first time. However, numerical integrations show that it was previously a Centaur before reaching its current Jupiter Trojan-like orbit in 2018 July, and is expected to return to being a Centaur in 2028 February, before eventually becoming a Jupiter-family comet in 2063 February. The case of P/2019 LD2 highlights the need for mechanisms to quickly and reliably dynamically classify small solar system bodies discovered in current and upcoming wide-field surveys.",

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AU - Hsieh, Henry H.

AU - Fitzsimmons, Alan

AU - Novaković, Bojan

AU - Denneau, Larry

AU - Heinze, Aren N.

PY - 2021/1/15

Y1 - 2021/1/15

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AB - Comet P/2019 LD2 has orbital elements currently resembling those of a Jupiter Trojan, and therefore superficially appears to represent a unique opportunity to study the volatile content and active behavior of a member of this population for the first time. However, numerical integrations show that it was previously a Centaur before reaching its current Jupiter Trojan-like orbit in 2018 July, and is expected to return to being a Centaur in 2028 February, before eventually becoming a Jupiter-family comet in 2063 February. The case of P/2019 LD2 highlights the need for mechanisms to quickly and reliably dynamically classify small solar system bodies discovered in current and upcoming wide-field surveys.

KW - Centaurs

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KW - Dynamics

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M3 - Article

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