Related papers: A precise modeling of Phoebe's rotation
The aim of this study is first to determine the gravity field of the comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko and second to derive the solar component of the precession rate and nutation coefficients of the spin axis of the comet nucleus, i.e.…
Neptune's present axial tilt of approximately 28 deg. with respect to its orbital plane can be explained by collisions that its primordial core may have experienced with surrounding planetary embryos during the final stages of its…
% context :The precise and accurate modelling of a terrestrial planet like Venus is an exciting and challenging topic, all the more interesting since it can be compared with that of the Earth for which such a modelling has already been…
The measurement of an exoplanet's oblateness and obliquity provides insights into the planet's internal structure and formation history. Previous work using small differences in the shape of the transit light curve has been moderately…
The inclination $I$ of an Earth's satellite in polar orbit undergoes a secular De Sitter precession of $-7.6$ milliarcseconds per year for a suitable choice of the initial value of its non-circulating node $\Omega$. The competing…
Aims: It has recently been shown that the fast migration of Titan could be responsible for the current 26.7{\deg}-tilt of Saturn's spin axis. We aim to quantify the level of generality of this result and to measure the most likely sets of…
Images obtained by the Cassini spacecraft of the region just beyond Saturn's main rings reveal a previously unreported narrow and dusty ringlet that has dynamical connections with both Saturn's small satellite Prometheus and the F ring. The…
The astronomer E.V. Pitjeva, by analyzing with the EPM2008 ephemerides a large number of planetary observations including also two years (2004-2006) of normal points from the Cassini spacecraft, phenomenologically estimated a statistically…
The accurate determination of Saturn's gravitational coefficients by Cassini could provide tighter constrains on Saturn's internal structure. Also, occultation measurements provide important information on the planetary shape which is often…
A sinusoidally time-varying pattern of the values of the Newton's constant of gravitation $G$ measured in Earth-based laboratories over the latest decades has been recently reported in the literature. We put to the test the hypothesis that…
This work shows the dynamical instability that can happen to close-in satellites when planet oblateness is not accounted for in non-coplanar multiplanet systems. Simulations include two secularly interacting Jupiter-mass planets mutually…
We perform a full analytical and numerical treatment, to the first post-Newtonian (1pN) order, of the general relativistic long-term spin precession of an orbiting gyroscope due to the mass quadrupole moment $J_2$ of its primary without any…
In Noyelles et al. (2008, Astron. Astrophys., 478, 959-970), a resonance involving the wobble of Titan is hinted. This paper studies this scenario and its consequences. The first step is to build an accurate analytical model that would help…
Planets may be rotationally flattened, and their oblateness thus provide useful information on their formation and evolution. Here we develop a new algorithm that can compute the transit light curve due to an oblate planet very efficiently…
When studying transiting exoplanets it is common to assume a spherical planet shape. However short rotational periods can cause a planet to bulge at its equator, as is the case with Saturn whose equatorial radius is almost 10% larger than…
We use the corrections to the Newton-Einstein secular precessions of the longitudes of perihelia of some planets (Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) of the Solar System, phenomenologically estimated as solve-for parameters by the…
This paper describes a new way of determining the high-latitude solar rotation rate statistically from simultaneous observations of many polar faculae. In this experiment, I extracted frames from a movie made previously from flat-fielded…
High precision ephemerides not only support space missions, but can also be used to study the origin and future of celestial bodies. In this paper, a coupled orbit rotation dynamics model that fully takes into account the rotation of the…
The obliquity of a planet is the tilt between its equator and its orbital plane. Giant planets are expected to form with near-zero obliquities. After its formation, some dynamical mechanism must therefore have tilted Saturn up to its…
A highly precise model for the motion of a rigid Earth is indispensable to reveal the effects of non-rigidity in the rotation of the Earth from observations. To meet the accuracy goal of modern theories of Earth rotation of 1 microarcsecond…