Related papers: The rotation states predominant among the planetar…
We investigate the problem of the typical rotation states of the small planetary satellites from the viewpoint of the dynamical stability of their rotation. We show that the majority of the discovered satellites with unknown rotation…
The motion of a satellite around a planet can be studied by the Hill model, which is a modification of the restricted three body problem pertaining to motion of a satellite around a planet. Although the dynamics of the circular Hill model…
Satellites in low Earth orbits must accurately conserve their orbital eccentricity, since a decrease in perigee of only 5-10% would cause them to crash. However, these satellites are subject to gravitational perturbations from the Earth's…
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…
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…
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 $10^9$ yr. In contrast to previous investigations, we use a…
We compare the dynamics of satellite galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to simple models in order to test the hypothesis that a large fraction of satellites co-rotate in coherent planes. We confirm the previously-reported excess of…
In a planetary or satellite system, idealized as n small bodies in initially coplanar, concentric orbits around a large central body, obeying Newtonian point-particle mechanics, resonant perturbations will cause dynamical evolution of the…
Applying the technique of dynamical maps we study the orbital stability of test particles in the Solar System in the space (a,e,i) defined by 0.1<a<38 au, 0<e<0.9 and 0<i<180 identifying the unstable and stable regions. We find stable…
While numerous planetary and asteroid satellites show evidence for non-trivial rotation states, none are as emblematic as Hyperion, which has long been held as the most striking example of chaotic spin-orbit evolution in the Solar System.…
The five libration points of a sun-planet system are stable or unstable fixed positions at which satellites or asteroids can remain fixed relative to the two orbiting bodies. A moon orbiting around the planet causes a time-dependent…
Coorbital bodies are observed around the Sun sharing their orbits with the planets, but also in some pairs of satellites around Saturn. The existence of coorbital planets around other stars has also been proposed. For close-in planets and…
The orbital dynamics of most planetary satellites is governed by the quadrupole moment from the equatorial bulge of the host planet and the tidal field from the Sun. On the Laplace surface, the long-term orbital evolution driven by the…
Possible rotation states of two satellites of Saturn, Prometheus (S16) and Pandora (S17), are studied by means of numerical experiments. The attitude stability of all possible modes of synchronous rotation and the motion close to these…
We reexamine the popular belief that a telluric planet or satellite on an eccentric orbit can, outside a spin-orbit resonance, be captured in a quasi-static tidal equilibrium called pseudosynchronous rotation. The existence of such…
We have investigated the obliquity evolution of terrestrial planets in habitable zones (at ~ 1AU) in extrasolar planetary systems, due to tidal interactions with their satellite and host star with wide varieties of satellite-to-planet mass…
About half of all known stellar systems with Sun-like stars consist of two or more stars, significantly affecting the orbital stability of any planet in these systems. Here we study the onset of instability for an Earth-type planet that is…
Most close-in planetary satellites are in synchronous rotation, which is usually the stable end-point of tidal despinning. Saturn's moon Hyperion is a notable exception by having a chaotic rotation. Hyperion's dynamical state is a…
Stationary stellar systems with radially elongated orbits are subject to radial orbit instability -- an important phenomenon that structures galaxies. Antonov (1973) presented a formal proof of the instability for spherical systems in the…
Cassini states correspond to equilibria of the spin axis of a body when its orbit is perturbed. They were initially described for satellites, but the spin axis of stars and planets undergoing strong dissipation can also evolve into some…