Abstract
Statistical techniques are applied to asteroid orbital data in an attempt to define the characteristics of the Kirkwood gaps in the distribution of the asteroids. A significant tendency is found for the eccentricities and inclinations of asteroid orbits to increase away from the gaps. These effects are observed throughout the distribution of main-belt asteroids. They are not merely confined to the immediate vicinities of the resonances and are not caused by observational selection effects. There is no evidence that the magnitude–frequency distribution of the asteroids changes near the gaps. Evidence is given for the existence of gaps in Hirayama families, possibly of a different nature from the classical Kirkwood gaps at locations corresponding to high order commensurabilities with Jupiter. These results support the theory that the Kirkwood gaps were formed by gravitational processes acting on individual asteroids throughout their lifetimes.
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Dermott, S., Murray, C. Resonant structure of the asteroid belt. Nature 290, 664–668 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/290664a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/290664a0
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