Asteroid short-periodic perturbations and the accuracy of mean orbital elements

The short-periodic perturbations of asteroid elements are calculated by means of the fourth-degree analytic theory of Yuasa (1973) and, for comparison, by means of a combination of numerical integration and filtering techniques. The accuracy and reliability of the obtained mean elements are analysed from the point of view of their applicability as parameters for asteroid classification into families. Special attention has been paid to the influence of near resonances and to the problem of the deterioration of the accuracy for high eccentricity and high inclination objects. It has been found that in most cases a simple and fast analytic procedure can provide data accurate enough for a reliable classification.