A cartographic study of spin-orbit coupling in binary asteroids

Abstract

Abstract In the spin-orbit resonances, we assume that the orbit of the secondary asteroid around the primary is invariant, which is a reasonable assumption at first glance. Owing to the irregularity of asteroids’ geometry and their effect on the mutual orbit, this assumption should be revised. Therefore, we focus on a binary asteroid with a spherical primary and a secondary with an irregular shape. When the shape of a secondary asteroid is not a sphere, the gravitational interaction is important, and we should consider the interaction of orbit and spin. We generate fast Lyapunov indicator (FLI) maps for both spin-orbit resonance and spin-orbit coupling problems and investigate the effect of orbit alternation on the structure of phase space.