Dynamical Evolution of Earth Mini-Moon 2020 CD₃: Role of Invariant Manifold

Asteroid 2020 CD₃ is one of the Earth’s Temporary Captured Orbiters. This study aims to investigate the dynamical evolution of the asteroid, notably its pre-capture and post-capture phases. The dynamics was analyzed through the framework of Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem with the Sun and the Earth-Moon system as primaries. We investigated the role of invariant manifold from Lyapunov and Halo orbits to the asteroid motion. It shows that the invariant manifold of Lyapunov orbit may play a significant role for guiding the asteroid to enter the Hill region of Earth through the Lagrange point L₁. We also discovered that the invariant manifold of Lyapunov orbit guides the asteroid after the escape process from L₂. In contrast, we found that the asteroid differs from Halo orbit’s invariant manifold, both for pre-and post-captured periods.