Evolution of Mercury into the 3/2 spin-orbit resonance

Alexandre C. M. Correia (1, 2, 3) , Jacques Laskar (2, 3)

1 Department of Physics, I3N, University of Aveiro
2 IMCCE - Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Ephémérides
3 ASD - Astronomie et systèmes dynamiques

Here we revisit the history of Mercury's spin since the planet was formed, including the effect of planetary perturbations on both the orbit and spin. We explore a large variety of initial conditions to cover the possible formation and evolutionary scenarios. We test several dissipation models and parameters to evaluate their contribution to the planet's spin history. We confirm that despite the variations in the models, the 3/2 spin-orbit resonance remains the most probable outcome of planetary evolution (Correia and Laskar, Nature, 429, 2004). Our study is presented in a very general setting and should apply to any terrestrial planet (or satellite) whose eccentricity is excited by external forces.

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]

Alexandre C. M. Correia, Jacques Laskar. Evolution of Mercury into the 3/2 spin-orbit resonance. AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting #37, Sep 2005, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. pp.1571. ⟨hal-03743884⟩