The aim is to show that in case of low probability of asteroid collision with Earth, the appropriate selection and weighing of the data are crucial for the impact investigation, and to analyze the impact possibilities using extensive numerical simulations. By means of the Monte Carlo special method a large number of ``clone'' orbits have been generated. A full range of orbital elements in the 6-dimensional parameter space, e.g. in the entire confidence region allowed by the observational material has been examined. On the basis of 1000 astrometric observations of (99942) Apophis, the best solution for the geocentric encounter distance of 6.065\pm 0.081 R_{Earth} were derived for the close encounter with the Earth on April 13, 2029. The present uncertainties allow for the special configurations (``keyholes'') during these encounter which may lead to the very close encounters in the future approaches of Apophis. Two groups of keyholes are connected with the close encounter with the Earth in 2036 (within the minimal distance of 5.7736-5.7763 R_{Earth} on April 13, 2029) and 2037 (within the minimal distance of 6.3359-6.3488 R_{Earth}). The nominal orbits for our most accurate models run almost exactly in the middle between these two impact keyhole groups. A very small keyhole for the impact in 2076 has been found between these groups at the minimal distance of 5.97347 R_{Earth} (close to the nominal orbit).
Deep Dive into How selection and weighting of astrometric observations influence the impact probability. Asteroid (99942) Apophis case.
The aim is to show that in case of low probability of asteroid collision with Earth, the appropriate selection and weighing of the data are crucial for the impact investigation, and to analyze the impact possibilities using extensive numerical simulations. By means of the Monte Carlo special method a large number of clone'' orbits have been generated. A full range of orbital elements in the 6-dimensional parameter space, e.g. in the entire confidence region allowed by the observational material has been examined. On the basis of 1000 astrometric observations of (99942) Apophis, the best solution for the geocentric encounter distance of 6.065\pm 0.081 R_{Earth} were derived for the close encounter with the Earth on April 13, 2029. The present uncertainties allow for the special configurations (keyholes’’) during these encounter which may lead to the very close encounters in the future approaches of Apophis. Two groups of keyholes are connected with the close encounter with the Earth
The discovery of potentially dangerous asteroid often starts the alarm of the world community because of its possible collision with Earth in the foreseeable future. Fortunately, so far this potential risk of collision decreases as more observations are successively collected. Up to date the impact probability estimates of known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHA; at the beginning of 2009 there were more than 1000 such objects) are at the outmost in the range of 10 -4 -10 -5 . 1 The main aim of this paper is to show that in the case of so low probabilities, the appropriate selection and weighing of the data are crucial for the impact investigation. To illustrate this question, we scrupulously examined the observational material and made extensive Monte Carlo analysis of the future encounters with the Earth by the asteroid (99942) Apophis. This is a potentially dangerous object since it has a large size (diameter 270 ± 60 meters, Delbò et al (2007)) and future collision possibilities have not been definitively solved yet. Additionally, Apophis will not be observable until 2011 (Chesley 2006). The observational data collected in the months of March 2004 and August 2006 consist of 1000 optical and 7 radar measurements. In the present paper we concentrate on the astrometric observations alone and show that the adequate selection and weighting procedures applied to these observations provide the nominal orbit with the same accuracy as the estimates found in the literature, based on the astrometric and the radar data. This is due to a large disproportion between the number of optical and radar measurements. If the number of radar observations were significantly greater or the radar data were outside the optical interval of data, the situation would be different.
We investigate the Apophis motion as a pure ballistic problem. Thus, we ignore the non-gravitational (NG) effects. Obviously, to describe accurately the asteroid orbit, these effects should be included. The problem of the NG effects is widely discussed by Giorgini, et al. (2008). They show, that the present data are absolutely insufficient to construct any decent model of these effects. Thus, we are unable to predict precisely the Apophis trajectory in the distant future. The purely gravitational computations have been perform to show the potential Apophis behaviour, especially the wider -than given in the literature -keyhole ranges in 2036 and 2037 resulting from our full 6D Monte Carlo method.
Some details of the Apophis story are worthy of notice. Asteroid was discovered by Tucker, Tholen and Bernardi at Kitt Peak (Arizona) on June 19, 2004. Unfortunately, the object was lost until December 18, when it was rediscovered by Garradd from Siding Spring in Australia. On the basis of six month of observations Apophis was recognized as a potentially hazardous asteroid with non-zero impact probability in 2029. However, substantial astrometric errors in the original June observations were quickly revealed (Chesley 2006). After remeasurements done by Tholen the impact probability was assessed at about 0.6 % and during the next days was systematically increasing reaching a peak of 2.7 % at the end of December. The pre-discovery observations from March 2004, reported by the Spacewatch survey at the end of December, eliminated any possibility of an impact in 2029. Calculations based on observations from the March through December have shown that the asteroid will pass near Earth on April 13, 2029 in the minimum distance of 10.1 ± 2.6 R ⊕ from the geocenter (R ⊕ = 6378 km). Moreover, it turned out that this deep encounter with Earth in 2029 would imply resonant return encounters in the subsequent years that could lead to several impact possibilities.
Later, the radar astrometry obtained in late January 2005 from the Arecibo Observatory were reported to be inconsistent with this prediction (Smalley, et al. 2005). Giorgini et al. (2005) found that radar data indicated a significantly closer approach of 5.6 ± 1.6 R ⊕ . According to Chesley (2006) the discrepancy was explained by the systematic errors in the five pre-discovery observations of March 2004 and the remeasurements of these observations were done by Spacewatch team and Spahr from MPC staff. The exciting story about changing the collision scenario of Apophis during the December 2004 and January 2005 is described in details by Sansaturio & Arratia (2008).
According to Giorgini et al. (2008) the new Arecibo radar observations of Apophis in August 2005 and May 2006 have increased the close approach distance on April 13, 2029 to 5.86±0.11 R ⊕ and 5.96± 0.09 R ⊕ , respectively (38 000±580 km; closer than some geosynchronous communication satellites).
Our Table 1 serves as a comment to the Apophis varying approaches to the Earth on April 13, 2029. We give there minimal distance from the Earth derived by us for the six different observational arcs based solely on the astrometric observations (i.e. excluding th
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