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Astronomy
intermediate

Discovery of a young subfamily of the (221) Eos asteroid family

Georgios Tsirvoulis (2018)

Published
Oct 27, 2018
Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · Vol. 482 · No. 2
DOI
10.1093/mnras/sty2898

At a GlanceAI

Identifies a very young subfamily within the Eos asteroid family, refining its collisional and dynamical history.

SummaryAI

Using Eos-family membership, the study reports the discovery of a distinct, young subfamily associated with (221) Eos. Isolating such a recent breakup helps constrain the family’s collisional chronology and the subsequent dynamical spreading mechanisms that shape asteroid families. The result provides a new benchmark population for testing how resonant and secular dynamical effects disperse fragments over time. It also refines the internal structure of the broader Eos family, which is important for interpreting its origin and evolution.

Method SnapshotAI

Asteroid-family clustering analysis in orbital-element space to identify a coherent young subfamily.

BackgroundAI

Background in asteroid-family dynamics, proper orbital elements, and resonance-driven (including secular) long-term evolution.

Expert Review: Discovery of a young subfamily of the (221) Eos asteroid family | Marginalia