Mercury's resonant rotation from secular orbital elements

From MaRDI portal
Publication:748299

DOI10.1007/S10569-015-9633-4zbMATH Open1428.70028arXiv1506.00008OpenAlexW1903719062MaRDI QIDQ748299FDOQ748299


Authors: Alexander Stark, J. Oberst, Hauke Hussmann Edit this on Wikidata


Publication date: 20 October 2015

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

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.


Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1506.00008




Recommendations




Cites Work


Cited In (10)





This page was built for publication: Mercury's resonant rotation from secular orbital elements

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q748299)