Orbital Evolution of Dust Size Particles Released From Catastrophic Asteroid Disruption

Simulations showing the results from the disruption of asteroid families, such as Emilkowalski, that occurred 220,000, over a range of particle sizes. The radiative forces cause the particles to spiral towards the inner solar system, while also circularize their orbits. (see eccentricity vs time) The variation of the other orbital elements and the divergence of the values for different particle sizes can be explained by their varying distance from gravity-dominating Jupiter. The distribution of orbital elements allow us to create models of the dust structures, that can than be compared to observational infrared data. Here, I worked as a Senior Research Assistant refining asteroidal orbital evolution code in order to run models of asteroid collisional breakup and orbital components over time. Through this my research was in comparing our models to the observations yields information on the parent asteroid, the dust structures, and the contribution of asteroids to the zodiacal cloud.

Advisor: Dr. Ashley Kehoe