• 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