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intermediate

Shepherding Miorita and its flock: A group of near-Earth asteroids driven by apsidal and von Zeipel-Lidov-Kozai secular resonances

R. de la Fuente Marcos et al. (2025)

Published
Aug 1, 2025
Journal
Astronomy & Astrophysics · Vol. 700
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/202556002

At a GlanceAI

Shows Miorita-like NEAs are stabilized yet Sunward-driven by concurrent Lidov–Kozai and Jupiter-controlled apsidal secular resonances.

SummaryAI

The work maps the dynamical setting of NEA 622577 Miorita and identifies a small “flock” of near-Earth asteroids with similar secular behavior. It reports that Miorita experiences a von Zeipel–Lidov–Kozai secular resonance together with a near-apsidal resonance, both controlled by Jupiter, and that this concurrent-resonance configuration can protect objects from inner-planet collisions while still enabling evolution toward low-perihelion, comet-like, potentially Sun-impacting trajectories. The paper highlights an active pathway that can inject NEAs into metastable, Sun-grazing states, and notes that the NEOMOD 3 population model assigns a low probability to such objects.

Method SnapshotAI

Direct N-body integrations of orbital evolution, complemented by checks against the NEOMOD 3 orbital distribution model and INT observations.

BackgroundAI

Celestial mechanics of NEA dynamics, especially secular resonances including von Zeipel–Lidov–Kozai and apsidal resonance concepts.