密近交会在确定小行星质量中的应用评估

Application of Close Encounters in Determining the Masses of Asteroids

小行星是太阳系的重要组成部分,目前已经发现的小行星已超过七十万颗,估计总数超过一百万.小行星密近交会事件是一种重要天象,可用于确定小行星的质量.为此需要做好准确的搜索和评估工作.现有的方法仅能评估密近交会事件中小行星对测试粒子的二体引力效应,在力学模型精确性和所提供信息的充分性两方面都不能完全满足指导观测的需要,为此发展了一种新的搜索和评估方法,引入信噪比指标刻画质量待定的小行星对作为测试粒子的小质量小行星的引力效应在观测上的体现,继而得出预估质量精度以量化某次密近交会事件对确定小行星质量的作用,并给出最佳的观测时间段以指导实际观测.利用该方法,系统地搜索评估了2000年至2030年间小行星交会事件,涉及773颗等效直径在50 km以上的小行星.

Asteroids are important part of the solar system. So far, the number of known asteroids is more than seven hundred thousand, and the total number is probably more than one million. Among many events of encounters among asteroids, those very close ones can be used to improve the precision of the masses of asteroids. To achieve this, it＇s necessary to search for the latter events in advance by making an accurate assessment of the effectiveness of an encounter in the mass determination. In this context, the previous dynamical models and assessing indicators are not precise enough. By using a more realistic dynamical model and introducing a properly defined Signal-to-Noise ratio, we are able to estimate the precision of the mass determination based on observations made from the Earth. Moreover, the best observation time span can be quantitatively given, which is useful in collecting observational data and planning further observations. We search systematically for the useful asteroid encounters involving one of the 773 massive asteroids with equivalent diameter larger than 50 kin, for which the searched time span is from the year 2000 to 2030.