Computer Science
Scientific paper
Mar 1980
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1980sciam.242..124w&link_type=abstract
Scientific American, vol. 242, Mar. 1980, p. 124-128, 130, 132, 134.
Computer Science
1
Comets, Computerized Simulation, Ice, Orbital Mechanics, Solar Orbits, Spin Dynamics, Flyby Missions, Oblate Spheroids, Orbit Calculation, Orbit Perturbation, Comets, Encke Comet, Rotation, Nuclei, Ice, Gases, Evaporation, Period, Outgassing, Comae, Asymmetry, Axis, Orbits, Halos, Models, Light Curves, Observations, Motion, Geometry, Gravity, Origin, Core, Diameter, Mass, Density, Velocity, Dust, Brightness
Scientific paper
The gyration of the spin axis of the nucleus of Comet Encke is described. Its period of revolution (3.3 yr) was observed in 1819 to decrease by 2.5 hr each revolution, but today only decreases by a few minutes per revolution. To explain this change, a computer program for determining the spin axis was applied, assuming the comet nucleus to be a precessing oblate spheroid of dirty ice. The shortening of Comet Encke's period has been found to be basically due to the comet's rotation in a direction opposite to the direction in which it moves around the sun; in 191 years the pole of rotation of the nucleus has gyrated through more than 100 degrees across the sky.
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