The Dynamical Evolution of the Earth-Moon Progenitors. II. Results and Interpretation

Details The Dynamical Evolution of the Earth-Moon Progenitors. II. Results and Interpretation The Dynamical Evolution of the Earth-Moon Progenitors. II. Results and Interpretation

Sep 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999dda....31.0202r&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DDA meeting #31, #02.02

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Substantial evidence indicates that the Earth-Moon system formed about 100 Myr after the oldest meteorites and that the inner Solar System had five terrestrial planets for several tens of millions of years before the hypothesized Moon-forming impact. We present results from a series of N-body integrations in which the mass ratio of the Earth-Moon progenitors is 8:1, 4:1, or 1:1. We want to know if it is plausible that the Earth-Moon progenitors collided after 8 -- 200 Myr, forming a system ``similar to'' the Solar System. If a collision occurs, the integrations tell us which two bodies collide and the time of the collision. We also determine the angular momentum deficit (AMD) of the resulting terrestrial planets. Additionally, we calculate several parameters of the collision. We use the terrestrial planets' AMD to compare the resulting system to our own. The AMD of a planet is the difference between its orbital angular momentum and its orbital angular momentum were it in a circular orbit with zero inclination. The current AMD summed over the terrestrial planets varies between ~ 7 x 10(44) g cm(2) s(-1) and ~ 10(45) g cm(2) s(-1) over the age of the Solar System. We modified the SYMBA code to integrate our input systems and to calculate parameters of the impact if a collision occurs. Although most of our simulations result in a collision, in the majority of the runs the wrong bodies collide or the Earth-Moon progenitors collide too quickly after the start of a simulation. Some runs last 200 Myr without a collision or ejection. There are some simulations in which the Earth-Moon progenitors do collide 8 -- 200 Myr after the runs start; a few of these are ``similar to'' the Solar System. Our results could be used as input for hydrodynamic simulations of the actual Moon-forming impact event.

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