TY - JOUR
T1 - How fast do Galilean satellites spin?
AU - Greenberg, Richard
AU - Weidenschilling, Stuart J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Conversations with D. R. Davis, C. R. Chapman, T. V. Johnson, and Mark Parmentier helped elucidate many of the ideas in this paper. Comments by referees, including Stanton Peale, were very helpful. This work was supported by NASA's Planetary Geophysics and Geochemistry Program, Contract NASW-3524. This is Planetary Science Institute Contribution No. 193. PSI is a division of Science Applications, Inc.
PY - 1984/5
Y1 - 1984/5
N2 - Each of the Galilean satellites, as well as most other satellites whose initial rotations have been substantially altered by tidal dissipation, has been widely assumed to rotate synchronously with its orbital mean motion. Such rotation would require a small permanent asymmetry in the mass distribution in order to overcome the small mean tidal torque. Since Io and Europa may be substantially fluid, they may not have the strenght to support the required permanent asymmetry. Thus, each may rotate at the unknown but slightly nonsynchronous rate that corresponds to zero mean tidal torque. This behaviour may be observable by Galileo spacecraft imaging. It may help explain the longitudinal variation of volcanism on Io and the cracking of Europa's crust.
AB - Each of the Galilean satellites, as well as most other satellites whose initial rotations have been substantially altered by tidal dissipation, has been widely assumed to rotate synchronously with its orbital mean motion. Such rotation would require a small permanent asymmetry in the mass distribution in order to overcome the small mean tidal torque. Since Io and Europa may be substantially fluid, they may not have the strenght to support the required permanent asymmetry. Thus, each may rotate at the unknown but slightly nonsynchronous rate that corresponds to zero mean tidal torque. This behaviour may be observable by Galileo spacecraft imaging. It may help explain the longitudinal variation of volcanism on Io and the cracking of Europa's crust.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0001613192&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0001613192&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0019-1035(84)90038-1
DO - 10.1016/0019-1035(84)90038-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0001613192
SN - 0019-1035
VL - 58
SP - 186
EP - 196
JO - Icarus
JF - Icarus
IS - 2
ER -