Numerical investigation for the dynamics of the planar circular Pluto-Charon system

Abstract The aim of this paper is to numerically investigate the orbital dynamics of a test particle, in the planar circular restricted Pluto-Charon system. By numerically integrating the equations of motion, forward in time, with several large sets of initial conditions of orbits, we manage to classify them into three main categories: (i) bounded (regular or chaotic) (ii) escaping and (iii) collision orbits. The SALI method is used for safely identifying the chaotic or regular nature of the orbits. Furthermore, we determine the influence of the value of the total energy (or equivalently the value of the Jacobi constant) on the orbital structure of the system. In addition, the network as well as the stability of the symmetric periodic orbits are also revealed. In our analysis, we consider a large variety of symmetric periodic orbits, regarding their multiplicity.