Re: I'm not convinced that the new definition excludes Pluto...

SkySea wrote:
If Pluto and several other KBOs have orbits influenced by Neptune (I
assume, rather than Neptune's orbit having been influenced into
resonance by the KBOs), then perhaps these orbits should be considered
as around Neptune. It's not a classical orbit (centered around a
massive body), but it seems that these are all part of a single
system.

That would only make sense if the resonance were 1:1. I don't think
that's very likely for an object not in one of the stable Lagrange
points (L4 or L5). I'm pretty sure that such an object would get
ejected if it weren't massive enough, and if it were massive enough, it
would probably do something like the event that created our Moon.

I think intuitively, we think of a satellite as an object that is always
near the parent planet, not something that could, at times, be all the
way on the other side of the Sun.

--
Brian Tung <brian@xxxxxxx>
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
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.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Im not convinced that the new definition excludes Pluto...
    ... Pluto that maintains the orbits as they are. ... If Pluto were in L1 or L2 with Neptune, ... there, it would be in a kind of 1:1 resonance with Neptune, and would ... (It would make one orbit per Neptunian ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Popular Celestial Mechanics
    ... objects in the Neptune 3:2 resonance. ... I doubt that plutinos could be held half an orbit ... which is more than can be said for the terrestial orbit. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: Solar system building
    ... To put it more carefully, very few of these low-ratio resonances are stable, and for those that are, it's due to special orientations between the two objects -- often involving the smaller object having fairly eccentric or inclined orbits. ... The Hildas are stable because of a weird dance they do with Jupiter involving always managing to stay far from it despite being in a 3:2 resonance, alternately having aphelia that move between/near the Sun-Jupiter L3, L4, and L5. ... It's certainly true that it's easy to be too flippant about the details of stability and resonance, or stability and anything when it comes to orbital mechanics. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • Re: This Weeks Finds in Mathematical Physics (Week 222)
    ... > o Twotino - A twotino is a Kuiper belt object whose orbit is in 2:1 ... > resonances with Neptune. ... Is there an easy way to see why these resonance orbits come about? ...
    (sci.physics.research)
  • Re: Popular Celestial Mechanics
    ... objects in the Neptune 3:2 resonance. ... I doubt that plutinos could be held half an orbit ... which is more than can be said for the terrestial orbit. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)