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Hahn, Gerhard

Publications and source records attributed to Hahn, Gerhard.

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↗

Long-term evolution of 1991 DA: A dynamically evolved extinct Halley-type comet

The long-term dynamical evolution of 21 variational orbits for the intermediate-period asteroid 1991 DA was followed for up to +/-10(exp 5) years from the present. 1991 DA is close to the 2:7 resonance with Jupiter; it has avoided close encounters, within 1 AU, with this planet for at least the past 30,000 years, even at the node crossing. The future evolution typically shows no close encounters with Jupiter within at least 50,000 years. This corresponds to the mean time between node crossings with either Jupiter or Saturn. Close encounters with Saturn and Jupiter lead to a chaotic evolution for the whole ensemble, while secular perturbations cause large-amplitude swings in eccentricity and inclination (the latter covering the range 15 deg approximately less than i approximately less than 85 deg) which correlate with deep excursions of the perihelion distance to values much less than 1 AU. These variations are similar to those found in P/Machholz and a variety of other high-inclination orbits, e.g., P/Hartley-IRAS. We emphasize the connection between the orbital evolution of 1991 DA and that of Halley-type comets. If 1991 DA was once a comet, it is not surprising that it is now extinct.

Hahn, Gerhard↗