Title of article
How do the small planetary satellites rotate
Author/Authors
Alexander V. Melnikov and Ivan I. Shevchenko، نويسنده ,
Issue Information
روزنامه با شماره پیاپی سال 2009
Pages
4
From page
167
To page
170
Abstract
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).
Keywords
planets and satellites: general
Journal title
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Serial Year
2009
Journal title
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Record number
673072
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