Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Dahlgren, Mats

Publications and source records attributed to Dahlgren, Mats.

The orbital evolution of real asteroids near the 4:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter

Numerical integrations of the orbits of ten asteroids with osculating elements near the 4:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter have been performed over 200,000 years into the future. A variety of orbital evolutions was found, depending on the start values of the semi-major axis. The orbit of asteroid 1983 RJ4, which lies almost exactly at the resonance center, experiences large variations in eccentricity, evolving into an Earth-crosser on a time-scale of a few 10(exp 4) years. This makes this region a potential source for Apollo objects and meteoritic material, although the width of the resonance region in semi-major axis seems to be very narrow.

Dahlgren, Mats↗

Spectroscopy of D-type asteroids

We have performed a spectroscopic survey of 19 D-type asteroids. Comparison with previous photometry shows excellent agreement. Although the majority have similar colors to cometary nuclei, no cometary emission bands were present in any of the spectra. Absorption bands sporadically appearing were apparently due to stellar objects, and no features inherent to the asteroids were observed.

Fitzsimmons, Alan↗