Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T22:49:31.041Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

How do the small planetary satellites rotate?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2010

Alexander V. Melnikov
Affiliation:
Pulkovo Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pulkovskoje ave. 65, St.Petersburg 196140, Russia email: melnikov@gao.spb.ru, iis@gao.spb.ru
Ivan I. Shevchenko
Affiliation:
Pulkovo Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pulkovskoje ave. 65, St.Petersburg 196140, Russia email: melnikov@gao.spb.ru, iis@gao.spb.ru
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We investigate the problem of the typical rotation states of the small planetary satellites from the viewpoint of the dynamical stability of their rotation. We show that the majority of the discovered satellites with unknown rotation periods cannot rotate synchronously, because no stable synchronous 1:1 spin-orbit state exists for them. They rotate either much faster than synchronously (those tidally unevolved) or, what is much less probable, chaotically (tidally evolved objects or captured slow rotators).

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2010

References

Bauer, J. M., Buratti, B. J., Simonelli, D. P., & Owen, W. M. Jr. 2004, ApJ, 610, L57Google Scholar
Beletsky, V. V. 1965, The Motion of an Artificial Satellite about its Mass Center (Moscow: Nauka Publishers)Google Scholar
Black, G. J., Nicholson, P. D., & Thomas, P. C. 1995, Icarus, 117, 149CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Devyatkin, A. V., Gorshanov, D. L., Gritsuk, A. N., Melnikov, A. V., Sidorov, M. Yu., & Shevchenko, I. I. 2002, Sol. Sys. Res., 36, 248CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldreich, P. & Peale, S. 1966, AJ, 71, 425CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grav, T., Holman, M. J., & Kavelaars, J. J. 2003, ApJ, 591, L71CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karkoschka, E. 2003, Icarus, 162, 400CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klavetter, J. J. 1989, AJ, 98, 1855CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kouprianov, V. V. & Shevchenko, I. I. 2005, Icarus, 176, 224CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kouprianov, V. V. & Shevchenko, I. I. 2006, Sol. Sys.,Res. 40, 393CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maris, M., Carraro, G., Cremonese, G., & Fulle, M. 2001, AJ, 121, 2800CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maris, M., Carraro, G., & Parisi, M. G. 2007, A&A, 472, 311Google Scholar
Melnikov, A. V. 2001, Cosmic Res., 39, 68CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melnikov, A. V. & Shevchenko, I. I. 1998, Sol. Sys. Res., 32, 480Google Scholar
Melnikov, A. V. & Shevchenko, I. I. 2000, Sol. Sys. Res., 34, 434Google Scholar
Melnikov, A. V. & Shevchenko, I. I. 2007, Sol. Sys. Res., 41, 483Google Scholar
Melnikov, A. V. & Shevchenko, I. I. 2008, Celest. Mech. Dyn. Astron., 101, 31CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peale, S. J. 1977, in: Burns, J. A. (ed.), Planetary Satellites, (Tucson: Univ. of Arizona Press), p. 87Google Scholar
Porco, C. C., Thomas, P. C., Weiss, J. W., & Richardson, D. C. 2007, Science, 318, 1602CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheppard, S. S. & Jewitt, D. C. 2003, Nature, 423, 261CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheppard, S. S., Jewitt, D., & Kleyna, J. 2005, AJ, 129, 518CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheppard, S. S., Jewitt, D., & Kleyna, J. 2006, AJ, 132, 171CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, P. C., Armstrong, J. W., Asmar, S. W., Burns, J. A., Denk, T., Giese, B., Helfenstein, P., & Iess, L. 2007, Nature, 448, 50CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wisdom, J. 1987, AJ, 94, 1350Google Scholar
Wisdom, J., Peale, S. J., & Mignard, F. 1984, Icarus, 58, 137CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JPL website data, http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/ (Site Manager: D.K.Yeomans.)Google Scholar