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Four temporary Neptune co-orbitals: (148975) 2001 XA255, (310071) 2010 KR59, (316179) 2010 EN65, and 2012 GX17

de la Fuente Marcos, C. & de la Fuente Marcos, R. (2012)

Published
Nov 1, 2012
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/201220377

At a GlanceAI

Four objects listed as Centaurs turn out to be temporary Neptune co-orbitals captured from beyond Neptune.

SummaryAI

Screening eleven candidates with N-body calculations, the authors confirm that four objects classified as Centaurs are currently temporary Neptune co-orbitals: one recent visitor from the scattered disk, one on a horseshoe orbit, one switching from L4 to L5, and an L5 Trojan candidate. All are highly inclined and eccentric, not primordial 1:1 librators. The authors argue that Neptune still captures co-orbitals efficiently, that orbital-element cuts are unreliable for classifying outer Solar System objects, and that L5 may be less stable than L4.

Method SnapshotAI

N-body integrations of observed objects and their clones.

BackgroundAI

Co-orbital (1:1) dynamics: tadpole and horseshoe orbits.