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Science 18 March 1966:
Vol. 151. no. 3716, pp. 1384 - 1385
DOI: 10.1126/science.151.3716.1384
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Articles

Rotation of Mercury: Theoretical Analysis of the Dynamics of a Rigid Ellipsoidal Planet

L. Jackson Laslett 1 and Andrew M. Sessler 1

1 Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley

The second-order nonlinear differential equation for the rotation of Mercury implies locked-in motion when the period is within the range where e is the eccentricity and T is the period of Mercury's orbit, the time t is measured from perihelion, and lgr is a measure of the planet's disiortion. For values near 2T/3, the instantaneous period oscillates about 2T/3 with period (21lgre/2)T.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Mercury Has Two Permanent Thermal Bulges.
H.-S. Liu (1968)
Science 159, 306-307
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)