Origin of multikilometer earth- and mars-crossing asteroids: A quantitative simulation
Orbital dynamic simulations show that many asteroids in the main asteroid belt are driven toward Mars-crossing orbits by numerous weak mean motion resonances, which slowly increase the orbital ellipticity of the asteroids. In addition, half of the Mars-crossing asteroids (MCAs) transition to Earth-crossing asteroids (ECAs) in less than 20 million years. This scenario quantitatively explains the observed number of large ECAs and MCAs.
Migliorini
F
F. Migliorini, Armagh Observatory, College Hill BT61 9DG, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, and Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino, I-10025 Pino Torinese, Italy. P. Michel, Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino, I-10025 Pino Torinese, Italy, and Obse.
Michel
P
Morbidelli
A
Nesvorny
D
Zappala
V