Orbital Mechanics

• Why do we care?
– Fundamental properties of solar system objects
– Examples: synchronous rotation, tidal heating, orbital
decay, eccentricity damping etc. etc.
• What are we going to study?
– Kepler’s laws / Newtonian analysis
– Angular momentum and spin dynamics
– Tidal torques and tidal dissipation
• These will come back to haunt us later in the course
• Good textbook – Murray and Dermott, Solar System
Dynamics, C.U.P., 1999
 Kepler’s laws (1619)
• These were derived by observation (mainly thanks to
Tycho Brahe – pre-telescope)
• 1) Planets move in ellipses with the Sun at one focus
• 2) A radius vector from the Sun sweeps out equal
areas in equal time
• 3) (Period)2 is proportional to (semi-major axis a)3

a ae b

apocentre pericentre
empty focus focus

e is eccentricity
a is semi-major axis
 Newton (1687)
• Explained Kepler’s observations by assuming an
inverse square law for gravitation:
Gm1m2
F
r2
Here F is the force acting in a straight line joining masses m1 and m2
separated by a distance r; G is a constant (6.67x10-11 m3kg-1s-2)

• A circular orbit provides a simple example and is

useful for back-of-the-envelope calculations:
Period T
Centripetal Centripetal acceleration = rw2
acceleration
Gravitational acceleration = GM/r2
M
So GM=r3w2 (this is a useful formula to
r
Angular frequency
be able to derive)
w=2 p/T So (period)2 is proportional to r3 (Kepler)
 Angular Momentum (1)
• The angular momentum vector of an orbit is defined by
h  r  r
• This vector is directed perpendicular to the orbit plane. By use
of vector triangles (see handout), we have
r  rrˆ  rˆ
• So we can combine these equations to obtain the constant
magnitude of the angular momentum per unit mass
h  r 
2

• This equation gives us Kepler’s second law directly. Why? What

does constant angular momentum mean physically?
• C.f. angular momentum per unit mass for a circular orbit = r2w
• The angular momentum will be useful later on when we
calculate orbital timescales and also exchange of angular
momentum between spin and orbit
 Elliptical Orbits & Two-Body Problem
Newton’s law gives us
r
d2r rˆ
2
 2 0
m1 r dt r
m2 where =G(m1+m2) and r̂ is the unit vector
See Murray and Dermott p.23 (The m1+m2 arises because both objects move)

The tricky part is obtaining a useful expression for d 2r/dt2 (otherwise

written as r ) . By starting with r=rr̂ and differentiating twice, you
eventually arrive at (see the handout for details):

 
r  rˆ r  r 2  ˆ  
1d 2
r 
 r dt 
Comparing terms in r̂ , we get something which turns out to
describe any possible orbit 
2
r  r  
r2
 Elliptical Orbits
 
r  r   2
2

r
• Does this make sense? Think about an object moving in either a
straight line or a circle
• The above equation can be satisfied by any conic section (i.e. a
circle, ellipse, parabola or hyberbola)
• The general equation for a conic section is
e is the eccentricity,
2 =f+const.
h 1
r
a is the semi-major axis

 1  e cos f
h is the angular momentum
a ae r
f
For ellipses, we can rewrite this
focus
equation in a more convenient
b
form (see M&D p. 26) using b2=a2(1-e2)
a(1  e 2 )  h 2 / 
 Timescale
• The area swept out over the course of one orbit is
pab  pa 2 1  e2  hT / 2 Where did that come from?
where T is the period
• Let’s define the mean motion (angular velocity) n=2p/T
• We will also use a(1  e 2 )  h 2 /  (see previous slide)
• Putting all that together, we end up with two useful results:

n a 
2 3 This is just Kepler’s third law again
(Recall =G(m1+m2))

h  na 1 e
2 2 Angular momentum per unit mass.
Compare with wr2 for a circular orbit
We can also derive expressions to calculate the position and
velocity of the orbit as a function of time
 Energy
• To avoid yet more algebra, we’ll do this one for circular
coordinates. The results are the same for ellipses.
• Gravitational energy per unit mass
Eg=-GM/r why the minus sign?
• Kinetic energy per unit mass
Ev=v2/2=r2w2/2=GM/2r
• Total sum Eg+Ev=-GM/2r (for elliptical orbits, -/2a)
• Energy gets exchanged between k.e. and g.e. during the orbit as the
satellite speeds up and slows down
• But the total energy is constant, and independent of eccentricity
• Energy of rotation (spin) of a planet is
Er=CW2/2 C is moment of inertia, W angular frequency
• Energy can be exchanged between orbit and spin, like momentum
 Angular Momentum Example
If Pluto and Charon were originally a single r1 w
object, we can calculate the initial mass m0 and Pluto Charon
rotation rate w0 of this object by conservation of a
w m2
mass and angular momentum: m1
m0  m1  m2 Here C0 and C1 are the moments of inertia
C0w0  C1w  m2 a 2w C1 = 0.4 m1 r12 etc.

If we do this, we get an initial rotational period of 2.1 hours. Is this

reasonable? We can compare the centripetal acceleration with the
gravitational acceleration:
Gm0
Grav. Acc.: = 0.67 ms -2 Centripetal acc.: r0w02 =0.85 ms-2
r02
So the hypothetical initial object would have been unable to hold itself
together (it was rotating too fast). This strongly suggests that Pluto and
Charon were never a single object; the large angular momentum is much
more likely the result of an impact.
 Summary
• Mean motion of planet is independent of e, depends
on  (=G(m1+m2)) and a:
n a 
2 3

• Angular momentum per unit mass of orbit is constant,

depends on both e and a:
h  na 2
1 e 2

• Energy per unit mass of orbit is constant, depends

only on a: 
E
2a
 Tides (1)
• Body as a whole is attracted
with an acceleration = Gm/a2 a
• But a point on the far side R
m
experiences an acceleration =
Gm/(a+R)2
• The net acceleration is 2GmR/a3 for R<<a
• On the near-side, the acceleration is positive, on
the far side, it’s negative
• For a deformable body, the result is a symmetrical
tidal bulge:
 Tides (2)
P
b
planet R

m
M a satellite

m
• Tidal potential at P V  G (recall acceleration = - V )
b
1/ 2
  
R   
R
2

• Cosine rule b  a 1  2  cos     

 a  a  

• (R/a)<<1, so expand square root

m  R 
2

V  G 1    cos     3 cos   1  
R 1 2

a   a  a 2 

Constant Mean gravitational Tide-raising part of

=> No acceleration acceleration (Gm/a2) the potential
Need explain diff w.r.t R?
 Tides (3)
• We can rewrite the tide-raising part of the potential as
m 21
G 3 R
a 2
 
3 cos 2   1   HgP2 (cos  )
• Where P2(cos ) is a Legendre polynomial, g is the surface
gravity of the planet, and H is the equilibrium tide
3
GM m R This is the tide raised
g 2 H R   on the Earth by the
R M a Moon
• Does this make sense? (e.g. the Moon at 60RE, M/m=81)
• For a uniform fluid planet with no elastic strength, the
amplitude of the tidal bulge is (5/2)H
• An ice shell decoupled from the interior by an ocean will have
a tidal bulge similar to that of the ocean
• For a rigid body, the tide may be reduced due to the elasticity
of the planet (see next slide)
 Effect of Rigidity
• We can write a dimensionless number ~ which tells
us how important rigidity  is compared with gravity:
Note that this  is different
~ 19 
 (g is acceleration,  is density)
from previous definition! 2 gR
• For Earth, ~1011 Pa, so ~ ~3 (gravity and rigidity are comparable)
• For a small icy satellite, ~1010 Pa, so ~ ~ 102 (rigidity dominates)
• We can describe the response of the tidal bulge and tidal potential of
an elastic body by the Love numbers h2 and k2, respectively
• For a uniform solid body we have:
5/ 2 3/ 2
h2  k2 
1  ~ 1  ~
• E.g. the tidal bulge amplitude is given by h2 H (see previous slide)
• The quantity k2 is important in determining the magnitude of the
tidal torque (see later)
 Effects of Tides
In the presence of friction in the primary, the
1) Tidal torques tidal bulge will be carried ahead of the satellite
(if it’s beyond the synchronous distance)
Synchronous distance This results in a torque on the satellite by the
bulge, and vice versa.
The torque on the bulge causes the planet’s
rotation to slow down
The equal and opposite torque on the satellite
causes its orbital speed to increase, and so the
Tidal bulge satellite moves outwards
The effects are reversed if the satellite is
within the synchronous distance (rare – why?)
Here we are neglecting friction in the satellite,
which can change things – see later.
The same argument also applies to the satellite. From the satellite’s point of view,
the planet is in orbit and generates a tide which will act to slow the satellite’s
rotation. Because the tide raised by the planet on the satellite is large, so is the
torque. This is why most satellites rotate synchronously with respect to the planet
they are orbiting.
 Tidal Torques
• Examples of tidal torques in action
– Almost all satellites are in synchronous rotation
– Phobos is spiralling in towards Mars (why?)
– So is Triton (towards Neptune) (why?)
– Pluto and Charon are doubly synchronous (why?)
– Mercury is in a 3:2 spin:orbit resonance (not known until
radar observations became available)
– The Moon is currently receding from the Earth (at about
3.5 cm/yr), and the Earth’s rotation is slowing down (in
150 million years, 1 day will equal 25 hours). What
evidence do we have? How could we interpret this in terms
of angular momentum conservation? Why did the recession
rate cause problems?
 Diurnal Tides (1)
• Consider a satellite which is in a synchronous, eccentric orbit
• Both the size and the orientation of the tidal bulge will change
over the course of each orbit 2ae
Tidal bulge

Fixed point on
satellite’s surface
a
Empty focus Planet
a This tidal pattern
consists of a static
part plus an oscillation

• From a fixed point on the satellite, the resulting tidal pattern

can be represented as a static tide (permanent) plus a much
smaller component that oscillates (the diurnal tide)
N.B. it’s often helpful to think about tides from the satellite’s viewpoint
 Diurnal tides (2)
• The amplitude of the diurnal tide is 3e times the static
tide (does this make sense?)
• Why are diurnal tides important?
– Stress – the changing shape of the bulge at any point on the
satellite generates time-varying stresses
– Heat – time-varying stresses generate heat (assuming some
kind of dissipative process, like viscosity or friction). NB
the heating rate goes as e2 – why?
– Dissipation has important consequences for the internal
state of the satellite, and the orbital evolution of the system
(the energy has to come from somewhere)
• We will see that diurnal tides dominate the behaviour
of some of the Galilean satellites
 Angular Momentum Conservation
• Angular momentum per unit mass
h  na 2 1  e 2   1/ 2 a1/ 2 1  e 2
where the second term uses n 2 a 3  
• Say we have a primary with zero dissipation (this is not the case
for the Earth-Moon system) and a satellite in an eccentric orbit.
• The satellite will still experience dissipation (because e is non-
zero) – where does the energy come from?
• So a must decrease, but the primary is not exerting a torque; to
conserve angular momentum, e must decrease also- circularization
• For small e, a small change in a requires a big change in e
• Orbital energy is not conserved – dissipation in satellite
• NB If dissipation in the primary dominates, the primary exerts a
torque, resulting in angular momentum transfer from the primary’s
rotation to the satellite’s orbit – the satellite (generally) moves out
(as is the case with the Moon).
 How fast does it happen?
• The speed of orbital evolution is governed by the rate at
which energy gets dissipated (in primary or satellite)
• Since we don’t understand dissipation very well, we
define a parameter Q which conceals our ignorance:
Q 2pE
DE
• Where DE is the energy dissipated over one cycle and E
is the peak energy stored during the cycle. Note that
low Q means high dissipation!
• It can be shown that Q is
related to the phase lag arising in 
the tidal torque problem we
studied earlier: Q ~ 1 / 
 How fast does it happen(2)?
• The rate of outwards motion of a satellite is governed by the
dissipation factor in the primary (Qp)
3k2  ms  R p 
5

a    na
Q p  m p  a 
Here mp and ms are the planet and satellite masses, a is the semi-major axis, Rp is
the planet radius and k2 is the Love number. Note that the mean motion n depends
on a. 3
ms  Rp 
• Does this equation make sense? Recall H  Rp  
mp  a 
• Why is it useful? Mainly because it allows us to calculate Qp. E.g.
since we can observe the rate of lunar recession now, we can
calculate Qp. This is particularly useful for places like Jupiter.
• We can derive a similar equation for the time for circularization to
occur. This depends on Qs (dissipation in the satellite).
 Tidal Effects - Summary
• Tidal despinning of satellite – generally rapid, results in
synchronous rotation. This happens first.
• If dissipation in the synchronous satellite is negligible
(e=0 or Qs>>Qp) then
– If the satellite is outside the synchronous point, its orbit expands
outwards (why?) and the planet spins down (e.g. the Moon)
– If the satellite is inside the synchronous point, its orbit contracts
and the planet spins up (e.g. Phobos)
• If dissipation in the primary is negligible compared to the
satellite (Qp>>Qs), then the satellite’s eccentricity
decreases to zero and the orbit contracts a bit (why?) (e.g.
Titan?)
 Modelling tidal effects
• We are interested in the general case of a satellite
orbiting a planet, with Qp ~ Qs, and we can neglect the
rotation of the satellite
• Angular momentum conservation:
C p W p  ms 1/ 2 a1/ 2 1  e2  const. (1)
• Dissipation
1 d d ms dEs dE p (2)
C pW p   
2

2 dt dt 2a dt dt
Rotational energy Grav. energy Dissipation in primary and satellite
• Three variables (Wp,a,e), two coupled equations
• Rate of change of individual energy and angular
momentum terms depend on tidal torques
• Solve numerically for initial conditions and Q ,Q
 1.
Example 2.

results
• 1. Primary
dissipation
dominates – satellite
moves outwards and
planet spins down
• 2. Satellite
dissipation
dominates – orbit
rapidly circularizes
• 2. Orbit also
contracts, but
amount is small
because e is small
 Summary
• Tidal bulges arise because bodies are not point masses,
but have a radius and hence a gradient in acceleration
• A tidal bulge which varies in size or position will
generate heat, depending on the value of Q
• If the tidal bulge lags (dissipation - finite Q), it will
generate torques on the tide-raising body
• Torques due to a tide raised by the satellite on the
primary will (generally) drive the satellite outwards
• Torques due to a tide raised by the primary on the
satellite will tend to circularize the satellite’s orbit
• The relative importance of these two effects is governed
by the relative values of Q
 Key Concepts
• Solar system characteristics and formation –
Hill sphere, “snow line”, timescales
• Kepler’s laws and Newtonian orbits

n a 
2 3
h  na 2
1 e 2
E
2a
• Tides
– Synchronous rotation
– Dissipation / heating
– Circularization and orbital migration
3
m R h2 
5/ 2
H R  
M a 1  ~
 Orbital Evolution
• Recall dissipation in primary drives satellite outwards
• Dissipation in satellite drives satellite inwards and
circularizes orbit
• Possible scenario:
– Io causes dissipation in Jupiter, moves outwards until . . .
– It encounters the 2:1 resonance with Europa; the two bodies
then move outwards in step until . . .
– They encounter the 2:1 resonance with Ganymede
• There are alternative scenarios
• The present-day configuration involves a balance
between dissipation in primary (outwards) and
dissipation in satellites (inwards)
 Hypothetical orbital history
Io Europa Ganymede

2:1 Europa:Ganymede
time

2:1 Io:Europa
from Peale, Celest. Mech.
Dyn. Ast. 2003

distance (schematic)
Note that we don’t actually know whether the orbits are
currently expanding or contracting
Also note that during capture into resonance, eccentricities
are transiently excited to high values – so what?
 How fast does it happen?
• The speed of orbital evolution is governed by the rate at
which energy gets dissipated (in primary or satellite)
• Since we don’t understand dissipation very well, we
define a parameter Q which conceals our ignorance:
Q 2pE
DE
• Where DE is the energy dissipated over one cycle and E
is the peak energy stored during the cycle. Note that
low Q means high dissipation!
• It can be shown that Q is
related to the phase lag arising in 
the tidal torque problem we
studied earlier: Q ~ 1 / 
 How fast does it happen(2)?
• The rate of outwards motion of a satellite is governed by the
dissipation factor in the primary (Qp)
3k2  ms  R p 
5

a    na
Q p  m p  a 
Here mp and ms are the planet and satellite masses, a is the semi-major axis, Rp is
the planet radius and k2 is the Love number. Note that the mean motion n depends
on a. 3
ms  Rp 
• Does this equation make sense? Recall H  Rp  
mp  a 
• Why is it useful? Mainly because it allows us to calculate Qp. E.g.
since we can observe the rate of lunar recession now, we can
calculate Qp. This is particularly useful for places like Jupiter.
• We can derive a similar equation for the time for circularization to
occur. This depends on Qs (dissipation in the satellite).
 Orbital evolution
Ariel’s orbit expands faster than
Miranda’s because Ariel is so much
more massive

3:1 resonance responsible

for Miranda’s present-day
inclination (?)

• Theoretical evolution of orbits (from Murray and Dermott; c.f. Dermott et al. Icarus 1988)
• Note that various resonances may have been encountered on the way to the present-
day configuration (e.g. Miranda:Umbriel 3:1)
• Passage through resonance will have led to transient eccentricities and heating
• Note that diverging paths do not allow capture into resonance (though they allow
passage through it), while converging paths do. This may help to explain why there
are no examples of resonance in the Uranian system.
 Estimating Q
• Recall that the rate of outwards motion of a satellite
depends on planetary dissipation Qp
• If we assume that Io formed 4.5 Gyr B.P., and has
been moving outwards ever since, we get a lower
bound on Jupiter’s Q of ~105 (why a lower bound?)
• This value is typical of gas giants, but is much higher
than for silicate bodies (~102)
• The Earth’s Q is anomalously high (~12) because the
current continental configuration means oceanic tides
are close to resonance – lots of dissipation
• We’ll calculate the rate of dissipation in a second
 Circularization
• Recall dissipation in satellite leads to circularization
• Assume no torque from primary, so momentum conserved
E
• In this case, it can be shown that e   Why?
2eE

• We have previously calculated E (see Io), and so we can

obtain e and circularization timescale te= -e/ e directly:
5
4 ms  a  ~s Qs
te   
63 m p  Rs  n
At the present day, this gives us (8 ~ Q ) Myr. For a solid rock-
s s
~
ice mixture,  s ~ 15 and Qs ~ 100 so te~12 Gyr.
But, if there really is an ocean present, then dissipation will be
amplified, Qs reduced and te reduced, leading to potential
problems . . .
 Tidal Deformation – Recap.
• Satellite in synchronous rotation – period of rotation
equals orbital period
• Eccentric orbit (due to Laplace resonance) – amplitude
and direction of tidal bulge changes, so surface
experiences changing stresses and strains
• These diurnal tidal strains lead to friction and thus tidal
dissipation (heating)
Diurnal tides can be
large e.g. 30m on
Europa

Satellite
Jupiter
Eccentric orbit
 Tidal amplitudes
• Amplitude of tidal deformation Fluid response
Thick ocean
depends on whether ice shell is

Amplitude
anchored to mantle or not Thin ocean
• If Europan shell is decoupled No ocean
by an ocean, the tidal
amplitude is ~30m; if not Moore and Schubert
JIMO 2003
decoupled, the amplitude is 1m
Ice viscosity

•An orbiting spacecraft should be able to detect these

tides (or the equivalent gravity signals)
•Ambiguity again: we obtain the product of the shell
thickness and rigidity. But we can prove an ocean exists!
 Tidal Heating (1)
• Recall diurnal tidal amplitude goes as eH / ~ in the
limit when rigidity dominates ( ~  1 )
• So strain goes as eH / ~Rs
• Energy stored per unit volume = stress x strain
• In an elastic body, stress  strain x  (rigidity)
• So total energy stored goes as e2H2Rs/ ~ 2
• For tide raised on satellite H=Rs(mp/ms)(Rs/a)3
• From the above, we expect the energy stored E to go as
25
e  Rs 
2
Gm
E~ ~  
p

s  a  a
~ 19  38p R 4

Note that here we have used    s

2 gRs 2
3 ms G
 Tidal heating (2)
dE nE
• From the definition of Q, we have dt  Q
s
• We’ve just calculated the energy stored E, so given
Qs and n we can thus calculate the heating rate dE/dt
• The actual answer (for uniform bodies) is
52
dE 63 e n  Rs 
2
Gm
 ~  
p

dt 4 s Qs  a  a
• But the main point is that you should now understand
where this equation comes from
• Example: Io ~s  40, Qs  100, e  0.0041
• We get 80 mW/m2, about the same as for Earth (!)
• This is actually an underestimate – why?
 Io energetics
• We can measure the power output of Io by looking at
its infra-red spectrum
• Heat flux is appx. 2.5 W m-2 .This is 30 times the
Earth’s global heat flux.
5 2
dE 63 e n  Rs  Gm
2
 ~  
p

dt 4 s Qs  a  a
• Assume low rigidity ( ~s  1 ) – why?. To balance the
heat being produced requires Qs=90. Is this reasonable?
What does it imply about viscosity?
• Where does the power ultimately come from?
• A heat loss of 2.5 Wm-2 over 4.5 Gyr is equivalent to
0.03% of Jupiter’s rotational energy
 Tidal heating examples
• Enceladus is small but active, and currently in a resonance with
Dione – differential orbital expansion similar to Io (?)
• So likely that tidal heating is responsible, but details are unclear
(Squyres et al. Icarus 1983). In particular why did Enceladus melt if
Mimas didn’t? (Mimas is in a 2:1 resonance with Tethys)
• Mimas is also puzzling because its eccentricity is high (how?)
while at the same time it shows no sign of tidal deformation
• Ariel (also small and active) is not in a resonance now, but may
have been (e.g. with Umbriel) in the past. How?
• The same also goes for Miranda (tiny and active). The fact that
Miranda’s orbit is inclined at 4o is also suggestive of an ancient
resonant episode (Tittemore and Wisdom, Icarus 1989)
• As with Ganymede, orbital evolution may explain present-day
features . . .
 How do we calculate Q?
• For solid bodies, we assume a viscoelastic rheology
• Such a body has a rigidity , a viscosity h and a
characteristic relaxation (Maxwell) timescale tm=h/
• The body behaves elastically at timescales <<tm and in a
viscous fashion at timescales >> tm

• Dissipation is maximized
when timescale ~ tm:
1 t mn
Q 
1  (t m n) 2

Tobie et al. JGR 2003

 Calculating Q (cont’d)
• Ice has rigidity ~109 Pa and viscosity ~1014 Pa s, so the
Maxwell time is ~105s which is comparable to the
orbital period, so we expect dissipation in the ice shells
• Silicates ~1011 Pa, h~1021 Pa s, so less dissipation
• But silicate viscosity decreases significantly if melting
occurs, which will lead to an increase in dissipation, and
thus a feedback effect
• This runaway situation was first identified by Peale et al.
(1979), who predicted massive volcanism on Io two
weeks before it was observed for the first time
• A similar feedback effect may also occur in ice (see
previous diagram)
 Tidal Energy and Stress
• Tidal stresses and heating decrease markedly with distance
• Radiogenic heating is dominant in Callisto and Ganymede
(now), secondary in Europa, and insignificant for Io
Body H 3eH dW/dt dWR/dt EeH/Rs C/msRs2 3Gms/5R
(m) (m) (1012 W) (1012 W) (MPa) (MJ kg-
1)

Io 7802 312 8900 0.31 0.57 0.3679(4) 1.96

Europa 1966 60 8.1 0.13 0.13 0.346(5) 1.23
Ganymede 1258 5.7 0.074 0.29 0.007 0.311(3) 2.25
Callisto 220 4.6 0.015 0.31 0.006 0.355(4) 1.79
H is static tidal bulge for a fluid body, 3eH gives peak-to-peak diurnal tidal amplitude, dW/dt is tidal
dissipation rate for a uniform body with Jupiter’s mass=1.899x10 27 kg, k=3/2 and Q=100, dWR/dt is
radiogenic heat production within silicate portion of body assuming a heating rate of 3.5x10 -12 W/kg,
EeH/Rs gives the approximate stresses due to diurnal tides with E=10 GPa, C/msRs2 gives the normalized
moment of inertia (Anderson et al. 1996,1998b,2001a,b) and 3Gms/5Rs gives the energy delived during
homogeneous accretion. A uniform body has a normalized MoI of 0.4.
 Non-synchronous rotation (1)
• From the satellite’s point of view, the planet travels in the
opposite direction round the sky to the satellite itself
• The tidal bulge always lags the planet’s motion
• In an eccentric orbit the amplitude of the tidal bulge varies and is
largest at the periapse
• The result of the varying bulge is a varying torque, which turns
out to be positive i.e. it should increase the satellite’s rotation
rate slightly above synchronous

Eccentric orbit
satellite

Periapse Apoapse
planet

Torque increases spin Torque opposes spin

Larger Smaller
 Non-synchronous rotation (2)
• For an eccentric satellite, the net tidal torque should
lead to non-synchronous rotation
• But the torque may be balanced by a frozen-in mass
asymmetry, leading to synchronous rotation
• A frozen-in mass asymmetry requires a relatively
rigid body (See Greenberg and Weidenschilling, Icarus 1984)
e
Tidal torque: T  Mass torque: T  B  A
Q
• Both the rigidity of the satellite and Q depend on its
internal structure, so there are potential feedbacks
between orbital evolution and rotation state
Internal structure Orbital behaviour
 Internal Structures (1)
• Because the satellites are rotating, they are flattened (oblate)
• This means that they do not act as a point mass; the perturbations
to the gravity field can be identified by tracking spacecraft on a
close approach
• Potential V at a distance r for axisymmetric body is given by
GM  R
2
R
4

V  1  J 2   P2 ( )  J 4   P4 ( )  
r  r r 


• So the coefficients J2, J4 etc. can be determined from spacecraft

observations (higher order terms require closer approaches – why?)
• We can relate J2,J4 . . . to the internal structure of the satellite
 Internal Structures (2)
• Mean density and J2 are especially useful C
• It turns out that we can rewrite J2 in terms R
of the differences in moments of inertia of
the planet (look at the diagram ):
CA
J2 
MR 2
A
• What we would really like is C/MR2 (why?)
• If we can observe the precession of the planet, that gives us (C-
A)/C and thus C given J2 (where can we do this?)
• Otherwise, we can assume that the planet has no strength
(hydrostatic) and use theory to infer C from J2 (is this OK?)
• In practice, flybys of the Galilean satellites were usually
equatorial (why?), so we determine the equivalent equatorial term
to J2 which is called C22 – the analysis is similar
 Librations
• Libration occurs due to Jupiter

non-spherical shape ecliptic

i
• Amplitude of libration: Europa
~ 3 (C-A) n sin i w is rotation rate,
C w n is rate of orbit node
precession
torque

• So libration amplitude gives us moment of

inertia of the shell (assuming hydrostatic)
• MoI depends on shell thickness and density
• But we know the density => infer shell thickness
• Yoder and colleagues (JPL, unpublished)