Non-gravitational effects in the motion of comet 333P/LINEAR

Paweł Kankiewicz and Ireneusz Włodarczyk

For several years, an interesting Near-Earth Object (NEO) has been known, initially classified as the asteroid 2007 VA85. It belongs to the group of retrograde minor bodies because of its inclination to the ecliptic over 130 degrees. For only a few years, there were known only two retrograde asteroids that could be considered as NEO. The existence of such bodies seemed to contradict the nature of the motion of most of the asteroids in the Solar System, accumulated near one plane with prograde orbits. The retrograde orbits are rather characteristic for comets. Since 2016, the VA85 has officially become a 333P/LINEAR comet after identifying its cometary activity. Since then, most of the conclusions about the origin and evolution of this object have been revisited.
So far, we have investigated the 333P (2007 VA85) motion using the gravitational model only, but the possible effect of some non-gravitational forces should also be studied. For a small asteroid with characteristic rotational properties, it was predictable that the Yarkowsky force might play an important role. In this paper, the influence of the cometary non-gravitational effects is estimated. Despite the still limited knowledge of the parameters of the examined body, it is possible to estimate which effects play the most important role in its dynamics. This will allow us to trace more accurately the origin of such unusual objects of the Solar System.

Proceedings of the Polish Astronomical Society, vol. 7, 132-134 (2018)

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