10-25-2009, 03:12 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
|
[Space] Orbital Mechanics of Moons
A couple of quick questions for the astronomers out there that don't seem to be covered by GURPS Space...
If a planet has natural satellites, what would be the best way to determine the inclination of the orbits of the various moons with respect to the ecliptic plane? Is the rotational axis of a moon related to the axial tilt of the planet that it orbits or should you randomly determine the axial tilt of the moon with respect to its own orbital plane? The table on p.118 of GURPS Space makes it possible to randomly determine the axial tilt of planets. However, the Wikipedia article on axial tilt seems to suggest that the presence of one or more large moons orbiting a planet may provide a stabilizing influence that prevents large variations in axial tilt over time. Is this true? Or am I mis-reading the article? Does this make it less likely that planets with large moons will have a high axial tilt? |
10-25-2009, 03:25 PM | #2 | |||
Join Date: Jun 2006
|
Re: [Space] Orbital Mechanics of Moons
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
__________________
-- MA Lloyd |
|||
10-25-2009, 04:26 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
|
Re: [Space] Orbital Mechanics of Moons
Thanks for the reply!
This level of detail isn't really necessary when worldbuilding for a space campaign, but it is very interesting. |
10-25-2009, 05:34 PM | #4 | |||
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
|
Re: [Space] Orbital Mechanics of Moons
Quote:
We have to bear in mind that most of the objects actually called moons are not, in GURPS Space's terms, major moons, but moonlets. The only major moons in our system are the Moon/Luna, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan, and Triton. Apart from the Moon, they all have very small inclinations of their orbits to their primaries' equatorial planes: Europa's is the largest among prograde moons at 0.47°. Triton is retrograde and inclined at 3.17°. Inner moonlets also have very small to negligible inclinations. Quote:
Quote:
Last edited by Agemegos; 10-25-2009 at 05:38 PM. |
|||
Tags |
astronomy, space |
|
|