Orbital evolution of the P/1996 R2 and P/1996 N2 objects

Abstract

A numerical integration of the equations of motion of the Sun-planets-an object system is used to study the evolution of orbits close to the orbit of the P/1996 R2 object, which is a Jupiter-crossing object, and to the asteroidal orbit of the P/1996 N2 object, which, at the moment of its detection, had a tail similar to a cometary one. Small variations in the initial data considerably affect the evolution of orbits close to that of the P/1996 R2 object. The time elapsed up to the ejection of the object into a hyperbolic orbit varied from 3*10^4 to 2.7*10^7 yr. Some objects were in resonances with Jupiter and Saturn for a long time. For about 20 percent of the runs, objects reached the Earth's orbit during evolution. Orbital elements of the P/1996 N2 object changed quasi-periodically over the considered time span of 200 Myr. Variations in the semimajor axis, eccentricity, and inclination were equal to 0.04 AU, 0.11 deg, and 3.5 deg, respectively.