Peter Birtwhistle noticed a similarity between the orbits of these two newly discovered asteroids (see his MPML message).
I tried to simulate, using the Mercury integrator by John E. Chambers, their past relative distance and velocity.
The data are still very uncertain and so this simulation is by no means conclusive: however, it seems that in these days these two asteroids are at the end of a much longer cycle where they happen to come relatively near.
I tried to simulate, using the Mercury integrator by John E. Chambers, their past relative distance and velocity.
The data are still very uncertain and so this simulation is by no means conclusive: however, it seems that in these days these two asteroids are at the end of a much longer cycle where they happen to come relatively near.
When
more data are available, it will be interesting to see if there is a
point in the past when the distance between these two asteroids was much
less than a lunar distance and their relative velocity was less than say 1
m/s.
Simulation data
Today, 30 Aug 2017, I downloaded the observations made available by the Minor Planet Center, then I got the orbital parameters submitting them to Find_Orb (server page).
Simulation configuration
From file info.out:
Algorithm: Bulirsch-Stoer (conservative systems)
Integration start epoch: 2458000.5000000 days
Integration stop epoch: -100000000.0000000
Output interval: 100.000
Output precision: medium
Initial timestep: 0.100 days
Accuracy parameter: 1.0000E-12
Simulation result
Note: the apparent zero points both in relative distance and velocity are NOT really zero!
Kind Regards,
Alessandro Odasso
