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Hop
Posts:
4
Registered:
6/10/10
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Phobos and Deimos tethers
Posted:
Apr 24, 2011 8:39 PM
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Assume Phobos and Deimos' orbits about Mars are circular and coplanar.
Each moon has a tether. Due to gravity and so called centrifugal force
gradient, each tether lies on the line that connects its moon and
Mars' center.
All objects on a moon's tether have the same angular velocity as the
moon. If released from the tether, the object will follow an
elliptical path with Mars' center lying on a focus.
Here is a pic:
http://clowder.net/hop/TMI/PhobosDeimos.jpg
There is an ellipse both these tethers share.
Call Phobos' angular velocity Wp.
Call Deimos' angular velocity Wd
Call the eccentricity of the shared ellipse e.
Can you describe e in terms of Wp and Wd?
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