Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Feb 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004icar..167..369c&link_type=abstract
Icarus, Volume 167, Issue 2, p. 369-381.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
33
Celestial Mechanics, Orbits, Solar System, Solar Nebula, Satellites Of Jupiter
Scientific paper
To elucidate the capture of Jupiter's outer moons, we reverse-evolve satellites from their present orbits to their original heliocentric paths in the presence of Jupiter's primordial circumplanetary disk (Lubow et al., 1999, Astrophys. J. 526, 1001-1012 Canup and Ward, 2003, Astron. J. 124, 3404-3423). Our orbital histories use a symplectic integrator that allows dissipation. We assume that the present satellites Himalia, Elara, Lysithea, Leda, and S/2000 J11 are collisional fragments of a single parent. Our simulations show that this ``prograde-cluster progenitor'' (PCP) could be derived from objects with heliocentric orbits like those of the Hilda asteroid group. We show analytically that this capture is energetically possible. We also compare the spectroscopic characteristics of the prograde cluster members (Grav et al., 2003, Icarus, submitted for publication) with those of the Hildas, and conclude that the surface color of the prograde-cluster progenitor is consistent with an origin within the Hilda group. Accordingly, gas drag in the primordial jovian nebula is found to offer a plausible explanation for the origin of the prograde cluster. A similar capture mechanism is proposed for Saturn's Phoebe.
Also at Department of Theoretiand Applied Mechanics.
Burns Joseph A.
Cuk Matija
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