Stability of polydeuces orbit

Abstract

The stability of the recently discovered Saturn satellite Polydeuces has not been fully studied yet.We use data from the Cassini probe group (NASA and Queen Mary, London) in order to numerically study the stability of the orbit of Polydeuces. We treat the system Saturn-Dione-Polydeuces as a planar, circular, restricted three body problem where Polydeuces is librating around the L5 Lagrangian point in a tadpole motion. We analyze the eccentricity evolution of Polydeuces trajectory, the Poincaré section and the indicator of its maximum Lyapounov characteristic exponent. Our results suggest that the Polydeuces orbit is stable for at least 10^5 Dione years.