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The escape of natural satellites from Mercury and Venus

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Abstract

It is suggested that the slow rotations of Mercury and Venus may be connected with the absence of natural satellites around them. If Mercury or Venus possessed a satellite at the time of formation, the tidal evolution would have caused the satellite to recede. At a sufficiently large distance from the planet, the Sun's gravitational influence makes the satellite orbit unstable. The natural satellites of Mercury and Venus might have escaped as a consequence of this instability.

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References

  • Jeffreys, H.: 1970,The Earth, Cambridge University Press, London.

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  • MacDonald, G. J. F.: 1966, in B. G. Marsden and A. G. W. Cameron (eds.),The Earth-Moon System, Plenum Press, New York.

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  1. Dept. of Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA., USA

    Shiv S. Kumar

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  1. Shiv S. Kumar
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Kumar, S.S. The escape of natural satellites from Mercury and Venus. Astrophys Space Sci 51, 235–238 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00642476

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00642476

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