ORBITAL-ROTATIONAL- INTERACTIONS

Bills             Hurford (NRC)              Liu

Rubincam          Sanchez



Ice cap loads deform a planet, changing how torques from other planets affect its obliquity (tilt). These can feed back into the climate system of Earth, Mars and other bodies (B. Bills, D. Rubincam)

Studies of Yarkovsky effects on asteroid orbital evolution explain the delivery of small objects to near-Earth space  (Rubincam).


Accumulation of volatiles in polar regions may cause polar wander on Triton (Rubincam).


A Mars Global Circulation Model helped compute atmospheric effects on the rotational dynamics  of the planet (Sanchez).


Loading models help explain the topography of some of the complex structures on Europa (T. Hurford).


Yarkovsky effects on ring particles may explain ring boundaries and prevent long term stability (Rubincam).


Fluctuations in insolation due to Earths orbital and rotational motion may explain temperature variations over the past million years, perhaps causing observed changes in CO2  (Liu).

Tidal dissipation on Mercury may keep the core molten, and help explain why Mercury still has a magnetic field today.  (Bills)