Stability of Irregular Satellites of Giant Planets in the Solar System
نویسندگان
چکیده
We conduct a systematic survey of the regions in which distant satellites can orbit stably around the four giant planets in the Solar system, using orbital integrations of up to 108 yr. We confirm previous results that (i) prograde and retrograde satellites orbiting within the Hill radius rH can survive out to radii of ∼ 0.5rH and ∼ 0.7rH, respectively; (ii) stable orbits do not exist at high ecliptic inclinations when the semi-major axis is large enough that the solar tide is the dominant non-Keplerian perturbation. More remarkably, our numerical studies reveal that stable satellite orbits exist at distances & 2rH around Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune (but not Saturn). For Uranus and Neptune, in particular, stable orbits are found at distances as large as ∼ 10rH. Subject headings: celestial mechanics – planets and satellites: formation – planets and satellites: general – minor planets – asteroids
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