The Effect of 'Mascons' Interior Mass Distribution onto the Dynamic Environment Around Asteroids - Livestream

A sphere cluster (SPH-Mas) based gravity model allows a semi-analytic expression of the linearised equations around irregular-shaped celestial bodies Equilibrium Points (EPs) and an easy method for searching families of periodic orbits around them. The SPH-Mas model can retrieve the same dynamical objects of the shape model when the spheres share a uniform density distribution. The dynamics are solved for a rotating asteroid-fixed frame of angular velocity equivalent to the asteroid spin axis. The SPH-Mas model has the advantage to define the same particles mesh distribution for both astrophysical and astrodynamics tools. To the core of this study, we aim to gain a general insight on the dynamics around Didymos and other minor celestial bodies in term of stable and unstable orbits for studying the dynamics of ejecta particles.

Speaker: Stefania Soldini, University of Liverpool

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