astronomical computing

An Asteroids Remarkable Orbit

Minor planet 1986 TOs yearly orbit creates a centuries-long dance with the Earth.

By Jean Meeus

Mars
Earth

1986
TO
Mercury
Sun
Venus

At first glance the orbit of 1986 TO does not

reveal anything unusual. Its just another minor
planet whose path takes it within Venuss orbit
and out beyond Mars.

SHIGEMI NUMAZAWA

n October 10, 1986, Duncan

Waldron at Australias Siding
Spring Observatory discovered an asteroid. The object
received the provisional designation 1986
TO and a little more than one year later
was given the number 3753 (it still has not
received a name).
The orbit of 1986 TO takes it just outside Mercurys orbit to a little beyond that
of Mars. Because the object comes within
Earths orbit, it is classified as an Apollo
asteroid. Furthermore, because the orbits
semimajor axis is just shy of 1 astronomical unit, resulting in an orbital period of
a little less than one year, the asteroid is
also of the Aten type.
These characteristics arent remarkable.
Dozens of Apollo and Aten asteroids orbit
the Sun, and 1986 TO travels in a rather
normal elliptic orbit. However, if we consider its motion with respect to the Earth,
we get a new perspective on this object
and discover how fascinating it actually
is. Recently astronomers Paul A. Wiegert,
Kimmo A. Innanen, and Seppo Mikkola
found that 1986 TO behaves unusually
and reported their findings in the June

Earths gravitational influence tugs on minor planet 1986 TO and changes its orbit.

12th Nature. I was intrigued by the report, so I repeated some of their calculations and performed additional analysis.
Because the orbital period of 1986 TO
is almost equal to that of the Earth, its
evident that the motion of the body with
respect to us will repeat almost identically
from year to year. In 1990, for instance,
1986 TO reached opposition on October
23rd, and its least distance to the Earth
was 48 million kilometers (0.32 a.u.) on
December 9th. The following year, these
circumstances were October 26th and 47
million km on December 7th, respectively. (These dates of opposition are those
of the opposition in celestial longitude,
not in right ascension.)
The orbital oddities arise when successive positions of the asteroid are drawn in
a Sun-centered frame that is rotating with
the Earth. Thus both Sun and Earth are
fixed. The resulting bipolar diagram
shows not the orbit of the body in the
solar system but illustrates its motion with
respect to the Earth. These plots can concisely reveal such properties as close-ap1997 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

proach distances to the Earth and morning and evening visibilities.

In the bipolar diagram for 1986 TO
shown on the next page, the Sun is at the
center, and to the right is the fixed
Earth. When the asteroid lies on the line
between Sun and Earth, it is at inferior
conjunction. The line beyond the Earth
denotes opposition with the Sun, while
the line opposite the Sun represents superior conjunction.
Asteroid 1986 TOs orbit takes it between 0.48 and 1.51 a.u. from the Sun
(represented by dashed circles on the diagram). Moreover, when it is nearest to
the Sun (perihelion) it moves much
faster than the Earth, while far from the
Sun (aphelion) it moves much slower. As
a result, in the course of one year the
body describes a kidney-bean-shaped
path with respect to the Earth. The curve
labeled 1900 denotes the course the
minor planet took during that year.
Because the minor planets period of
revolution is a little shorter than that of
Earths, this bean-shaped path slowly
Sky & Telescope December 1997

67

Orbital
Migration
of 1986 TO

2000
Sun

Earth

2100

2285

1900

When the path of 1986 TO is plotted with respect to a fixed Sun and Earth, the resulting
bipolar diagram helps illustrate the minor
planets unusual orbital properties. As explained in the article, the asteroid has a 1:1
resonance with the Earth that causes its relative position to migrate back and forth between the positions indicated by the curves
labeled 1900 and 2285.

a.u.? The cause is the perturbing influence of Earths gravitational attraction.

For simplicity, lets consider an asteroid moving in the plane of the ecliptic in
a nearly circular orbit with a revolution
period slightly less than one year. Such
an object will slowly catch up to the
Earth and approach it from behind.
When it gets close enough, Earths gravitational attraction makes the asteroid accelerate a small amount, pulling it into a
slightly larger orbit farther from the Sun.
But a larger orbit means a longer orbital

Semimajor axis
(astronomical units)

How Perturbing
So why does the semimajor axis
of 1986 TOs orbit fluctuate
with a period of nearly eight centuries between being a little
smaller and a little larger than 1
68

December 1997 Sky & Telescope

period. Now having a period longer than

one year, the asteroid retreats from the
Earth.
Eventually, the asteroids lag will be off
by almost one complete revolution. At
that time it is the Earth that catches up to
the body. When the mutual distance diminishes enough, Earths attraction comes
into play again. The Earth causes the asteroid to decelerate and thus fall toward
the Sun and into a smaller orbit. Now its
orbital period is again shorter than one
year, and the whole cycle repeats. Our asteroid is effectively repelled from the
Earth at each close approach.
This situation is called a 1:1 resonance
with the Earth. It is somewhat more complicated for 1986 TO because its orbit is elliptical (e = 0.515) and inclined nearly 20
to the ecliptic. And though the two bodies
have a cosmic dance, contrary to many reports, 1986 TO is not a companion of
the Earth, and certainly it is not a satellite!
Minor planet 1986 TO is not the only
one having an orbital resonance with the
Earth. For example, 1221 Amor has an
8:3 resonance three (mean) revolutions of Amor equal eight revolutions of
the Earth.

Asteroid Integration
Using a computer program written by
Tiziano Magni, I calculated by numerical
integration the motion of 1986 TO from
1850 to 2300, starting with the orbital elements determined by Edward L. Bowell
(see the box on page 69). Numerical integration means that successive positions
of the asteroid are calculated step
1.003
by step, incorporating the pertur1.002
bations by the Sun and planets.
1.001
I obtained results wholly in ac1.000
cordance
with Wiegert and his
0.999
colleagues.
My diagram at top left
0.998
illustrates the variation of the
0.997
orbits semimajor axis. Notice
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
Year
how the line at 1.0 a.u. crosses the
1.003
curve at the years 1900 and 2285.
1.002
1.001
Wiegert and his colleagues per1.000
formed an integration (blue) over
0.999
a longer period from the year
0.998
2000 to 4000 clearly showing
0.997
the repetition. During these 20
2500
3000
2000
3500
4000
Year
centuries the orbital period of the
Due to the gravitational influence of the Earth, the semimajor asteroid varies between 363.67
axis of 1986 TOs orbit changes. The plot calculated by Jean and 366.85 days.
Meeus (top) matches a graph (bottom; adapted from Nature)
Will 1986 TOs remarkable befor a longer period according to Paul A. Wiegert, Kimmo A. In- havior continue forever? Very
nanen, and Seppo Mikkola. The instantaneous value of the probably not because other paorbits semimajor axis remains confined between 0.997 and rameters of the asteroids orbit are
1.003 astronomical units.
also changing. Perhaps the most
Semimajor axis
(astronomical units)

astronomical computing

shifts from year to year. By 2000 the path

will have migrated more than 120 to that
shown in the diagram. This curve was
drawn from March 1, 2000, to midMarch 2001 to illustrate that the path is
not closed. Year after year, the minor
planet spirals around Earths orbit. Remember that this is the motion with respect to the moving Earth, and that 1986
TOs true orbit is, of course, an ellipse.
Ive included two other curves showing
the positions of the asteroid for 2100 and
2285. The latter is significant because during that year, the beans shift comes to a
halt. The semimajor axis of the elliptical
orbit has now increased to a little more
than 1 a.u., and the orbital period to a little
more than one year. In other words, while
1986 TO remains an Apollo asteroid, it is
no longer an Aten!
During subsequent years, the beanshaped curve backtracks clockwise until it
reaches the 1900 position around the year
2670. At that time the semimajor axis returns to being a little smaller than 1 a.u.,
and the whole cycle repeats.
Between the extreme positions the bean
migrates just shy of 360 around the Sun
with respect to the Earth. One complete
cycle lasts 770 years, with standstills (when
the shift reverses) taking place every 385
years.
As you can see from the diagram, for
many years after 1900 the asteroid exhibited yearly oppositions and inferior conjunctions. This is no longer the case.
Their final years were in 1995, when
1986 TO reached opposition on November 8th and inferior conjunction
on November 30th. The 2000
curve does not intersect the SunEarth line, thus there will be no
oppositions until the second half
of the 26th century. On the other
hand, the asteroid will have superior conjunctions for the first
time on December 27, 2046, and
then twice each year until 2234
(as depicted in the 2100 loop).
Consequently, the minor planet
will be an evening star continuously from 1996 to the year 2046,
though it will never be brighter
than 15th magnitude.

1997 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

(3753) 1986 TO
These orbital elements (equinox 2000.0) by Edward
L. Bowell were published in Minor Planet Circular
28,056.
Epoch
1996 November 13 DT
Mean anomaly
301.16043
Semimajor axis
0.9977904 a.u.
Argument of perihelion
43.63720
Longitude of ascending node
126.37563
Eccentricity
0.5147984
Inclination
19.81182

significant is called the argument of perihelion. Designated by , it represents the

angle measured from the ascending node
(where the asteroid crosses the ecliptic
plane while moving northward) to the
point of perihelion. This means that the
least distances to the orbits of the various
planets change too, altering the degree of
the mutual gravitational forces.
Currently the ascending node is between the orbits of Mercury and Venus,
and the descending node between the orbits of Earth and Mars. For now, there is
no danger of collision. In 1850, the least
distance between the orbits of 1986 TO
and the Earth (not between the bodies
themselves) was 11.3 million km. By 2300,
this will have decreased to 9.4 million km.
Calculations show that the argument of
perihelion is increasing by 0.6 per century. When = 58, the orbits of 1986
TO and Earth will intersect but thats
some 3,000 years in the future.
As a final study, I calculated when 1986
TO came nearest to the Earth. Close approaches took place in the early 20th
century, the smallest distance being 14
million km on July 18, 1902. In the top
diagram on page 68 we see that this occurred when the leading part of the
bean-shaped curve was in Earths neighborhood. In subsequent years the closeapproach distances grew larger. Then, as
the back part of the bean approached
Earth, the least distances to our planet
again lessened but nowhere as close as in
1902. A minimum distance of 46 million
km occurred on November 28, 1995.
Between 2050 and 2224, the distance of
asteroid 1986 TO from the Earth will always be larger than 1 a.u. Not before the
end of the 23rd century will there be
close encounters again, with an extreme
least distance of 12.5 million km on July
23, 2292.

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Jean Meeus, a pioneer of astronomical calculations with personal computers, is a frequent

contributor to Sky & Telescope.
1997 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

Sky & Telescope December 1997

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