Irregular Satellites of the Planets: Products of Capture in the Early Solar System
نویسندگان
چکیده
All four giant planets in the Solar system possess irregular satellites, characterized by large, highly eccentric and/or inclined orbits that are distinct from the nearly circular, uninclined orbits of the regular satellites. This difference can be traced directly to different modes of formation. Whereas the regular satellites grew by accretion within circumplanetary disks the irregular satellites were captured from initially heliocentric orbits at an early epoch. Recently, powerful survey observations have greatly increased the number of known irregular satellites, permitting a fresh look at the group properties of these objects and motivating a re-examination of the mechanisms of capture. None of the suggested mechanisms, including gas-drag, pull-down, and three-body capture, convincingly fit the group characteristics of the irregular satellites. The sources of the satellites also remain unidentified. Subject headings: planetary accretion, gas-drag, three-body interactions, solar system formation, Kuiper belt
منابع مشابه
Outer Irregular Satellites of the Planets and Their Relationship with Asteroids, Comets and Kuiper Belt Objects
Outer satellites of the planets have distant, eccentric orbits that can be highly inclined or even retrograde relative to the equatorial planes of their planets. These irregular orbits cannot have formed by circumplanetary accretion and are likely products of early capture from heliocentric orbit. The irregular satellites may be the only small bodies remaining which are still relatively near th...
متن کاملIrregular Satellites of the Giant Planets
The irregular satellites of the outer planets, whose population now numbers over 100, are likely to have been captured from heliocentric orbit during the early period of solar system history. They may thus constitute an intact sample of the planetesimals that accreted to form the cores of the jovian planets. Ranging in diameter from ~2 km to over 300 km, these bodies overlap the lower end of th...
متن کاملGravitational Capture of Asteroids by Gas Drag
Several irregular satellites of the giant planets were found in the last years. Their orbital configuration suggests that these satellites were asteroids captured by the planets. The restricted three-body problem can explain the dynamics of the capture, but the capture is temporary. It is necessary some kind of dissipative effect to turn the temporary capture into a permanent one. In this work ...
متن کاملStability of Irregular Satellites of Giant Planets in the Solar System
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 e...
متن کاملExponential law as a more compatible model to describe orbits of planetary systems
According to the Titus-Bode law, orbits of planets in the solar system obey a geometric progression. Many investigations have been launched to improve this law. In this paper, we apply square and exponential models to planets of solar system, moons of planets, and some extra solar systems, and compare them with each other.
متن کامل