Study on the connection between the rotating mass dipole and natural elongated bodies

The focus of this paper is to connect the rotating mass dipole with natural elongated bodies. The dipole system is consisted with two point masses connected with a massless rod in a constant characteristic distance. A brief introduction on the dynamics near the rotating mass dipole is given with the distribution of its equilibrium points and zero-velocity curves. Five parameters of the dipole model are required to approximate the potential distribution of an elongated body out of the body’s surface, including the mass ratio, system mass, spinning period, characteristic distance and the ratio between the gravitational and centrifugal forces. The method to obtain the five parameters is presented along with its application to the asteroid 1620 Geographos in detail. The accuracy of the dipole model is quantified with the relative tolerance of locations of the equilibrium points. Six more elongated asteroids and comets, such as 25143 Itokawa and 103P/Hartley-2, are illustrated to provide a reference for further studies. Model justification is evaluated through comparison between sample elongated bodies and their corresponding dipole models with regard to the external potential distribution, the stability and topological manifold structure of the equilibrium points.