Distributions of the Jacobi Costant and the Kinetic Moment of the Palomar-Leiden Survey asteroids

D. Olević ; Dragutin Djurović

Publications of the Department of Astronomy, Tome 9 (1979) no. 1.

Résumé

In a previous paper of ours (Olević D. et al, 1979) we investigated the statistical distributions of the Jacobi constant and the kinetic moment of the numbered minor planets (NA) (Ephemerides of Minor Planets for 1918, Leningrad, 1977). The population NA was divided into two subpopulations according to absolute brightness: the one B (1,0) $12^{m}$, and the second B (1,0) $\geq 12^{m}$. It proved that the distributions of the kinetic moments and Jacobi constant in the two subpopulations were non-randomly different. We deemed it therefore as being of interest to apply similar analysis to the population of the 1836 asteroids listed in the Palomar-Leiden Survey (PLS), (Houten van et al. 1970). We chose thereby the list of asteroids figuring in Table 7 of the publication mentioned, notwithstanding the fact that it comprises also asteroids with less accurately determined osculatory elements. In view of the asteroids' numerosity, the errors in their osculatory elements will practically not affect the results of the statistical investigations.