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Some unsolved problems in evolutionary dynamics in the solar system

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Abstract

Several unsolved problems in the evolutionary histories leading to current dynamical configurations of the planets and their systems of satellites are discussed. These include the possibilities of rather tight constraints on the primordial rotation states of Mercury and Venus and the stabilizing mechanism for the latter's retrograde spin, a brief mention of the problem of origin of the moons of Earth and Mars, the excessive heat flow from Jupiter's satellite lo which is not compatible with an otherwise self-consistent model of origin of the Laplace three-body libration, the mechanism for the long history of resurfacing of Saturn's satellite Enceladus and the possibly short lifetime of the A ring and the mechanisms for resurfacing the satellites of Uranus, especially Ariel, if the high stability of the mean motion orbital resonances at the 2/1 commensurability involving Ariel and Umbriel precludes a long term occupancy of the resonance. Finally, excessive times of accumulation of the outer planets in current models may possibly be reducible from the effects of nebular gas drag.

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  1. Department of Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara, 93106, Santa Barbara, CA, U.S.A.

    S. J. Peale

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Peale, S.J. Some unsolved problems in evolutionary dynamics in the solar system. Celestial Mech Dyn Astr 46, 253–275 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00049261

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