Related papers: Axisymmetric landslides on small planetary bodies
The population of known extrasolar planets includes giant and terrestrial planets that closely orbit their host star. Such planets experience significant tidal distortions that can force the planet into synchronous rotation. The combined…
Planetary rings produce a distinct shape distortion in transit lightcurves. However, to accurately model such lightcurves the observations need to cover the entire transit, especially ingress and egress, as well as an out-of-transit…
We investigate the dynamical behavior of rings around bodies whose shapes depart considerably from that of a sphere. To this end, we have developed a new self-gravitating discrete element N-body code, and employed a local simulation method…
We study low-amplitude crustal oscillations of slowly rotating relativistic stars consisting of a central fluid core and an outer thin solid crust. We estimate the effect of rotation on the torsional toroidal modes and on the interfacial…
We investigate equatorial geodesics in the gravitational field of a rotating and deformed source described by the approximate Hartle-Thorne metric. In the case of massive particles, we derive within the same approximation analytic…
Condensed planets contract or expand as their temperature changes. With the exception of the effect of phase changes, this phenomenon is generally interpreted as being solely related to the thermal expansivity of the planet's components.…
The stellar spin orientation relative to the orbital planes of multiplanet systems are becoming accessible to observations. Here, we analyze and classify different types of spin-orbit evolution in compact multiplanet systems perturbed by an…
I summarize some recent models and ideas for the formation of axisymmetrical structures of planetary nebulae and the three rings of SN 1987A, as follows. (a) I review the general role of binary companions, including brown dwarfs and…
Remnant planetesimals might have played an important role in reducing the orbital eccentricities of the terrestrial planets after their formation via giant impacts. However, the population and the size distribution of remnant planetesimals…
We study the spin evolution of close-in planets in multi-body systems and present a very general formulation of the spin-orbit problem. This includes a simple way to probe the spin dynamics from the orbital perturbations, a new method for…
Planetesimal accretion during planet formation is usually treated as collisionless. Such accretion from a uniform and dynamically cold disk predicts protoplanets with slow retrograde rotation. However, if the building blocks of…
How do galaxies move relative to one another? While we can examine the motion of dark matter subhalos around their hosts in simulations of structure formation, determining the orbits of satellites around their parent galaxies from…
Core Accretion, the most widely accepted scenario for planet formation, postulates existence of km-sized solid bodies, called planetesimals, arranged in a razor-thin disc in the earliest phases of planet formation. In the Tidal Downsizing…
A body dissipates energy when it freely rotates about any axis different from principal. This entails relaxation, i.e., decrease of the rotational energy, with the angular momentum preserved. The spin about the major-inertia axis…
This is a study of the history of the asteroids in the main asteroid belt. Collisions have been the dominant process. Every asteroid has been impacted by others a multitude of times, with consequences of cratering, erosion, spin increments,…
Asteroid (99942) Apophis' close approach in 2029 will be one of the most significant small-body encounter events in the near future and offers a good opportunity for in situ exploration to determine the asteroid's surface properties and…
The apparent magnitude of elongated small bodies is time-dependent over their rotation phase. Therefore, previously undiscovered aspherical minor planets may experience a shape-driven selection effect in systematic surveys versus their…
We analyze the long-term tidal evolution of a single-planet system through the use of numerical simulations and averaged equations giving the variations of semi-major axis and eccentricity of the relative orbit. For different types of…
In 2029, the near-Earth asteroid (99942) Apophis approaches the Earth within six Earth radii. This opportunity is one of the rarest natural experiments that we can use to better characterize a small body through telescopic observations and…
A model for the asteroid resurfacing by regolith convection is built to estimate its timescale. In the model, regolith convection is driven by the impact-induced global seismic shaking. The model consists of three steps: (i) intermittent…