Dynamical Lifetimes of Objects Injected into Asteroid Belt Resonances

Abstract

Numerical simulations of particles placed in orbital resonances in the main asteroid belt show that the typical dynamical lifetimes of objects that could become near-Earth asteroids or meteorites are only a few million years, with the majority destroyed by being transferred to Jupiter-crossing orbits or being driven into the sun. Particles that fortuitously migrate to the terrestrial planet region may be pushed to high-inclination orbits by resonances but are still dynamically eliminated on time scales of ∼10 million years. These shorter lifetimes may require a reassessment of our qualitative understanding about near-Earth asteroids and meteorite delivery.