Mercury's core - The effect of obliquity on the spin-orbit constraints

Details Mercury's core - The effect of obliquity on the spin-orbit constraints Mercury's core - The effect of obliquity on the spin-orbit constraints

Aug 1977

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1977jgr....82.3423p&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 82, Aug. 10, 1977, p. 3423-3429.

Mathematics

Probability

4

Mercury (Planet), Planetary Rotation, Planetary Structure, Spin Resonance, Capture Effect, Orbital Resonances (Celestial Mechanics), Planetary Evolution, Spin Dynamics

Scientific paper

Constraints were previously placed on various properties of a Mercurian liquid core for compatibility with Mercury's escape from the stable spin-orbit resonance with the spin angular velocity equal to twice the orbital mean motion (the 2n resonance), under the assumption that the planet's obliquity was nearly zero at the time of resonance passage. Capture probabilities at arbitrary nonzero obliquities for the 2n resonance are determined for the cases where the core is strongly or weakly coupled to the mantle. It is found that the capture probabilities are reduced to below unity for all core-fluid viscosities in the weak-coupling limit, but are almost unchanged in the strong-coupling limit. The reduction in capture probability is attributed to reduction of the mantle's spin angular velocity by the core-mantle interaction, which would also reduce the obliquity to negligibly small values before the 2n resonance was even reached. It is concluded that the constraints on the core may still be maintained since Mercury most likely passed through the 2n resonance with nearly zero obliquity.

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