Preferred Orientations for the Rotational Angular Momentum Vectors of Periodic Comets

Details Preferred Orientations for the Rotational Angular Momentum Vectors of Periodic Comets Preferred Orientations for the Rotational Angular Momentum Vectors of Periodic Comets

Jan 1997

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997baas...29..743s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS Meeting #28, late abstracts; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 29, p. 743

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Scientific paper

Numerical integrations were carried out for periodic comets over many orbits to study spin state evolution under outgassing induced torques. In a previous paper, Samarasinha and Belton (1995, Icarus, 116, p 340-358) have shown that based on location of active areas on the nucleus, the nucleus would reach an asymptotic spin state. Investigations show that the rotational angular momentum vector also asymptotically spiral towards a stable orientation in the inertial frame. This spiraling towards the stable orientation is characterized by an accompanying decrease of the net torque on the nucleus in the inertial frame. The details of the stable orientation will depend on the location of active areas and the body frame components of the torque but not on the initial orientation of the angular momentum vector. Two such asymptotic stable orientations are in the orbital plane (a) near perihelion at location of maximum cometary activity, and (b) near aphelion at orbital opposite of the maximum cometary activity. Consequently, we expect an excess of cometary rotational angular momentum vectors directed towards the vicinity of perihelion and aphelion. In addition, it is likely that asteroids which are in fact extinct comets to demonstrate a similar behavior among their spin states provided the tidal effects on these asteroids/extinct comets by other solar system objects are negligible.

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