* Astronomy

Title: Dynamics in the Gravitational Field of a Cometary Nucleus
Author: Yu Jiang, Hexi Baoyin

The study of dynamics near the comet is a very important topic in orbital mechanics. In this paper we are interested in analyzing the dynamical behaviors in the vicinity of a cometary nucleus. Equilibrium points and periodic orbits are discussed. There are four equilibrium points in the potential of the comet 1P/Halley nucleus, positions and eigenvalues of these equilibrium points are presented. About the periodic orbits, it is found that there are five topological classes of stably periodic orbits and six topological classes of unstably periodic orbits in the potential field of a cometary nucleus. It is found that the resonant periodic orbit can be stable, and there exist stably non-resonant periodic orbits, stably resonant periodic orbits and unstably resonant periodic orbits in the potential field of cometary nuclei. The periodic orbits with the 1:1, 1:2, and 1:8 resonances are presented.

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