The eccentric behavior of binary minor planets
Minor planets are thought to be remnants of the protoplanetary disk from which the Solar system formed. In recent years many minor planets have been found to be a part of a binary system (from small satellites orbiting a primary up to comparable mass counterparts). The discovery of binary minor planets (BMPs) has raised basic questions regarding the formation and evolution of these systems and the Solar system environment. Their study is essential for understanding the formation and evolution of the Solar system. We show that secular perturbations (long-term, small perturbations, which are observed to repeat periodically) by the Sun (i.e., Kozai mechanism) that were not taken into account in previous studies fundamentally change the evolution and the initial distribution of BMPs characteristics. Despite the small statistical sample, it seems that our predicted observational signature is consistent with current observations. We show that the Kozai effect can be observed within the next few years, even with current accuracy.