Spanish astronomers have shown that the asteroid 2016 HO3, discovered in April 2016, will cease to be a quasi-satellite of the Earth in a few million years. Research on this is published on arXiv.org.
For several million years, 2016 HO3, as astronomers have shown, will be in the status of a quasi-satellite or transitional orbital configurations. Scientists came to their conclusions using computer modeling in the framework of the gravitational problem of N bodies.
Previous studies by other astronomers have shown that 2016 HO3 has been in orbit close to Earth for the last 100 years and will remain there for another 300 years. In this regard, scientists have concluded that the asteroid will be close to the Earth over the next several hundred years.
Trajectory 2016 HO3
Image: jpl.nasa.gov
A quasi-satellite is an object located with a planet in a 1: 1 orbital resonance (the periods of the object and the planet around the Sun coincide). However, celestial bodies differ in eccentricities (elongation of the orbit), which over time leads to the divergence of objects in space.
The Earth currently has five quasi-satellites (including 2016 HO3). Four more asteroids in the next 100 years may move into this category of objects. In addition to the Earth, other planets of the solar system have such objects, in particular Venus and Neptune.
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Object 2016 HO3 is the closest to the planet and has the smallest dimensions (it reaches 26-115 meters in diameter). The minimum distance between 2016 HO3 and the Earth is 38 distances between the planet and the Moon, the maximum is 100.