2004 VB131 and 2004 VV131 - Interesting TNOs

2004 VB131 and 2004 VV131

As described in this paper by C. de la Fuente Marcos and R. de la Fuente Marcos, TNO 2004 VB131 and 2003 UT291 are probably dynamically correlated.

I wonder whether TNO 2004 VV131 can be regarded as a third member of a cluster or it just happens to share similar orbital parameters with 2004 VB131 by chance.

The following simulation has been done using Mercury Integrator (package version 6) by John E. Chambers.
reference:
``A Hybrid
      Symplectic Integrator that Permits Close Encounters between
      Massive Bodies''. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
      Society, vol 304, pp793-799.







The graphs have been done using scripts written in language R, library ggplot2.

Nominal orbits from JPL

[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Physical Parameters ]

[ show orbit diagram ]

Orbital Elements at Epoch 2458600.5 (2019-Apr-27.0) TDB Reference: JPL 6 (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)  Element Value Uncertainty (1-sigma)   Units  e .06700099861890772 0.00084146   a 42.59056500132775 0.05372 au q 39.73695461449529 0.08529 au i 1.609969815239925 0.0010253 deg node 51.13004651765624 0.0029309 deg peri 205.5909322273696 0.62841 deg M 166.9050842729729 0.70297 deg tp 2411531.432483070632 (1890-Jun-12.93248307) 140.66 TDB period 101523.9552462122 277.96 192.08 0.5259 d yr n .003545961139190658 6.7089e-06 deg/d Q 45.4441753881602 0.057319 au

Orbit Determination Parameters    # obs. used (total)      15      data-arc span      3638 days (9.96 yr)      first obs. used      2003-10-22      last obs. used      2013-10-07      planetary ephem.      DE431      SB-pert. ephem.      SB431-N16      condition code      5      norm. resid. RMS      .13516      source      ORB      producer      Otto Matic      solution date      2017-Sep-03 18:51:51   Additional Information  Earth MOID = 38.7218 au   Jupiter MOID = 34.4139 au   T_jup = 5.829

(2003 UT291)

Classification: TransNeptunian Object          SPK-ID: 3170250

[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Physical Parameters ]

[ show orbit diagram ]

Orbital Elements at Epoch 2458600.5 (2019-Apr-27.0) TDB Reference: JPL 7 (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)  Element Value Uncertainty (1-sigma)   Units  e .07651698572696135 0.0001976   a 43.99692586931386 0.023306 au q 40.63041372054139 0.027328 au i 1.747331850985222 0.00056088 deg node 50.3788794397727 0.0033254 deg peri 206.9134956534745 0.43421 deg M 153.3613703123759 0.49693 deg tp 2413191.137426218222 (1894-Dec-28.63742622) 114.82 TDB period 106593.7953818755 291.84 84.699 0.2319 d yr n .003377307269248543 2.6836e-06 deg/d Q 47.36343801808632 0.02509 au

Orbit Determination Parameters    # obs. used (total)      22      data-arc span      3662 days (10.03 yr)      first obs. used      2004-11-09      last obs. used      2014-11-19      planetary ephem.      DE431      SB-pert. ephem.      SB431-N16      condition code      5      norm. resid. RMS      .41094      source      ORB      producer      Otto Matic      solution date      2017-Apr-08 20:54:11   Additional Information  Earth MOID = 39.6152 au   Jupiter MOID = 35.3111 au   T_jup = 5.914

(2004 VB131)

Classification: TransNeptunian Object          SPK-ID: 3564172

[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Physical Parameters ]

[ show orbit diagram ]

Orbital Elements at Epoch 2458600.5 (2019-Apr-27.0) TDB Reference: JPL 1 (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)  Element Value Uncertainty (1-sigma)   Units  e .07647397777967113 0.00011666   a 44.01275464882558 0.0049995 au q 40.64692422778918 0.0088412 au i 1.746638527260639 0.00023322 deg node 50.3833826820534 0.00077942 deg peri 207.2072988521391 0.097721 deg M 153.0207686419978 0.11517 deg tp 2413267.534322143576 (1895-Mar-15.03432214) 32.533 TDB period 106651.3244500145 292.00 18.172 0.04975 d yr n .003375485507155847 5.7515e-07 deg/d Q 47.37858506986198 0.0053819 au

Orbit Determination Parameters    # obs. used (total)      43      data-arc span      4461 days (12.21 yr)      first obs. used      2004-11-09      last obs. used      2017-01-26      planetary ephem.      DE431      SB-pert. ephem.      SB431-N16      condition code      4      norm. resid. RMS      .19842      source      ORB      producer      Otto Matic      solution date      2018-Nov-11 16:42:15   Additional Information  Earth MOID = 39.6317 au   Jupiter MOID = 35.3288 au   T_jup = 5.915

(2004 VV131)

Classification: TransNeptunian Object          SPK-ID: 3836183

Clone generations

I generated 100 clones trying to achieve the same orbital distribution as shown above (average and uncertainty) under the ideal assumption that we can deal with normal distributions.

2004 VB131

	Clones			Target
	mean	sd		mean	sd
q	40.6321499	0.02750148		40.63041372	0.027328
e	0.07649604	0.00019764		0.07651699	0.0001976
i	1.74731535	0.00056535		1.74733185	0.00056088
peri	206.91266172	0.43573354		206.91349565	0.43421
node	50.37912644	0.00333604		50.37887944	0.0033254
tp	2413189.25460454	115.05970535		2413191.13742622	114.82

2004 VV131

	Clones			Target
	mean	sd		mean	sd
q	40.64866623	0.0090227		40.64692423	0.0088412
e	0.07646112	0.00011592		0.07647398	0.00011666
i	1.74668055	0.00023669		1.74663853	0.00023322
peri	207.22233167	0.09641847		207.20729885	0.097721
node	50.38334862	0.00078214		50.38338268	0.00077942
tp	2413270.69430322	31.7570317		2413267.53432214	32.533

Simulation set-up

N-Body algorithm: Bulirsch-Stoer

integration in the last 500 years

output every 100 days

Simulation results

The resulting 100*100 pairs of clones were analyzed looking for the time when they reached the minimum distance (taking note of relative velocity as well).

The best clone couple behaved as shown below

The whole distribution of mininum distances, relative velocities and time was as shown below:

Kind Regards,
Alessandro Odasso

Amors: (2019 QR6) and (2019 PR2)

On October 06th, 2019 I post a message on MPML list wondering about the nature of these two objects.

In fact that I was unable to link their orbits with Find_Orb. 

The message  was almost immediately answered by Bill Gray that already noticed the orbit similarity as you see in his answer.

For what is's worth, I tried a simulation going back just a few centuries.

I used the Mercury6 simulator (Bulirsch-Stoer algorithm, output every 100 days) to integrate the orbit of 100 clones for every Amor.

package by J.E.Chambers (1999) ``A Hybrid
      Symplectic Integrator that Permits Close Encounters between
      Massive Bodies''. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
      Society, vol 304, pp793-799.

[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Mission Design | Physical Parameters | Close-Approach Data ]

[ show orbit diagram ]

Orbital Elements at Epoch 2458600.5 (2019-Apr-27.0) TDB Reference: JPL 6 (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)  Element Value Uncertainty (1-sigma)   Units  e .7978288096308341 0.00032564 a 5.77647017220784 0.0096039 au q 1.16783585084724 6.0685e-05 au i 10.97219839923067 0.0022769 deg node 349.0031380596452 0.0032242 deg peri 57.11459122817678 0.0037867 deg M 347.1017843073122 0.032425 deg tp 2458782.185121653621 (2019-Oct-25.68512165) 0.0037127 TDB period 5070.983875109436 13.88 12.646 0.03462 d yr n .07099214055225742 0.00017705 deg/d Q 10.38510449356844 0.017266 au

Orbit Determination Parameters    # obs. used (total)      55      data-arc span      37 days      first obs. used      2019-08-30      last obs. used      2019-10-06      planetary ephem.      DE431      SB-pert. ephem.      SB431-N16      condition code      6      norm. resid. RMS      .23771      source      ORB      producer      Otto Matic      solution date      2019-Oct-06 05:59:04   Additional Information  Earth MOID = .236027 au   Jupiter MOID = .430677 au   T_jup = 2.148

(2019 QR6)

Classification: Amor [NEO]          SPK-ID: 3843716

[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Mission Design | Physical Parameters | Close-Approach Data ]

[ show orbit diagram ]

Orbital Elements at Epoch 2458600.5 (2019-Apr-27.0) TDB Reference: JPL 13 (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)  Element Value Uncertainty (1-sigma)   Units  e .7976395056810581 7.5679e-05 a 5.771314015088342 0.0022317 au q 1.167885956963114 1.4922e-05 au i 10.98927716153723 0.0004847 deg node 349.0377844945419 0.00064504 deg peri 57.08297761694006 0.0010614 deg M 347.0982101299367 0.0075621 deg tp 2458781.992192675281 (2019-Oct-25.49219268) 0.0011319 TDB period 5064.195745018806 13.87 2.9374 0.008042 d yr n .0710872995685642 4.1233e-05 deg/d Q 10.37474207321357 0.0040118 au

Orbit Determination Parameters    # obs. used (total)      79      data-arc span      56 days      first obs. used      2019-08-10      last obs. used      2019-10-05      planetary ephem.      DE431      SB-pert. ephem.      SB431-N16      condition code      5      norm. resid. RMS      .47936      source      ORB      producer      Otto Matic      solution date      2019-Oct-06 05:59:04   Additional Information  Earth MOID = .236151 au   Jupiter MOID = .430922 au   T_jup = 2.149

(2019 PR2)

Classification: Amor [NEO]          SPK-ID: 3843547

I generated the clones trying to achieve the same orbital values as above.
This is what I got:

2019 QR6 

	Clones			Target
	mean	sd		mean	sd
q	1.16782936	6.072e-05		1.16783585	6.068e-05
e	0.7977961	0.00032594		0.79782881	0.00032564
i	10.97196669	0.00227869		10.9721984	0.0022769
peri	57.11505214	0.00378487		57.11459123	0.0037867
node	349.00281358	0.00322763		349.00313806	0.0032242
tp	2458782.18556559	0.00370968		2458782.18512165	0.0037127

2019 PR2

	Clones			Target
	mean	sd		mean	sd
q	1.16788572	1.491e-05		1.16788596	1.492e-05
e	0.79763725	7.562e-05		0.79763951	7.568e-05
i	10.98925764	0.00048534		10.98927716	0.0004847
peri	57.08297444	0.00106018		57.08297762	0.0010614
node	349.03776263	0.00064461		349.03778449	0.00064504
tp	2458781.99219263	0.00113238		2458781.99219268	0.0011319

I analyzed the 100*100 pairs, looking for pairs being very near with low relative velocity.

The best couple that I found behaved like this:

Apparently, somewhere around  year 1950 these two asteroids were at 2500 km with a relative velocity abot 10 m/s.

Does this make any sense?

Kind Regards
Alessandro Odasso