Other
Scientific paper
Aug 1976
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1976icar...28..441w&link_type=abstract
Icarus, vol. 28, Aug. 1976, p. 441-452.
Other
29
Eccentric Orbits, Mercury (Planet), Orbital Resonances (Celestial Mechanics), Planetary Evolution, Solar Orbits, Solar Rotation, Orbit Calculation, Planetology, Resonance, Secular Variations, Venus (Planet)
Scientific paper
A mechanism is investigated which may provide an evolutionary explanation for the large mean eccentricity and inclination of Mercury. It is proposed that if the gravitational field of the rapidly rotating early sun had a larger second-degree harmonic, the decreasing value of this harmonic during the subsequent solar spindown would drive Mercury through two secular resonances with Venus, one involving a commensurability in the apsidal motion of the two planets and the other involving their nodal rates. An analysis is performed, showing that these resonances could increase both the inclination and eccentricity of Mercury at nearly the same time, that an initial solar rotational period of 5.5 hr or less would guarantee passage through the resonances, and that a spindown time of about 1 million years could have produced the observed inclination and eccentricity.
Colombo Giorgio
Franklin Fred A.
Ward William R.
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