Mercury's resonant rotation from secular orbital elements

DOI10.1007/S10569-015-9633-4MaRDI QIDQ748299zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Alexander Stark, J. Oberst, Hauke Hussmann

Publication date 20 October 2015

Published in Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1506.00008, https://elib.dlr.de/100864/1/Stark15_CELE.pdf

zbMATH Keywords

ephemerisLaplace planeMercurymessengersecular elementsspin-orbit coupling

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Celestial mechanics (70F15)

Abstract: We used recently produced Solar System ephemerides, which incorporate two years of ranging observations to the MESSENGER spacecraft, to extract the secular orbital elements for Mercury and associated uncertainties. As Mercury is in a stable 3:2 spin-orbit resonance these values constitute an important reference for the planet's measured rotational parameters, which in turn strongly bear on physical interpretation of Mercury's interior structure. In particular, we derive a mean orbital period of 87.96934962 $pm$ 0.00000037 days and (assuming a perfect resonance) a spin rate of 6.138506839 $pm$ 0.000000028 degree/day. The difference between this rotation rate and the currently adopted rotation rate (Archinal et al, 2011) corresponds to a longitudinal displacement of approx. 67 m per year at the equator. Moreover, we present a basic approach for the calculation of the orientation of the instantaneous Laplace and Cassini planes of Mercury. The analysis allows us to assess the uncertainties in physical parameters of the planet when derived from observations of Mercury's rotation.

Recommendations

• The \(3:2\) spin-orbit resonant motion of Mercury
• Steady state obliquity of a rigid body in the spin-orbit resonant problem: application to Mercury
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Cites work

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Cited in

(10)

• Averaged model to study long-term dynamics of a probe about Mercury
• Rotation and figure evolution in the creep tide theory: a new approach and application to Mercury
• Some characteristics of orbits for a spacecraft around Mercury
• On the origin of the anomalous precession of Mercury's perihelion
• A mercury orientation model including non-zero obliquity and librations
• Stable and unstable orbits around Mercury
• Steady state obliquity of a rigid body in the spin-orbit resonant problem: application to Mercury
• On the problem of stability of Mercury's rotation about its center of mass
• Note on Mercury's rotation: the four equilibria of the Hamiltonian model
• Planetary perturbations on Mercury's libration in longitude

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