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Cited by 107Astro and Planetary ScienceStellar, planetary, and galactic studiesSpace Satellite Systems and Control

Capture of Irregular Satellites at Jupiter

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Nesvorný, David, Vokrouhlický, David, Deienno, Rogerio·2014·The Astrophysical Journal
DOI 10.1088/0004-637x/784/1/22
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Abstract

The irregular satellites of outer planets are thought to have been captured from heliocentric orbits. The exact nature of the capture process, however, remains uncertain. We examine the possibility that irregular satellites were captured from the planetesimal disk during the early solar system instability when encounters between the outer planets occurred. Nesvorný et al. already showed that the irregular satellites of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune were plausibly captured during planetary encounters. Here we find that the current instability models present favorable conditions for capture of irregular satellites at Jupiter as well, mainly because Jupiter undergoes a phase of close encounters with an ice giant. We show that the orbital distribution of bodies captured during planetary encounters provides a good match to the observed distribution of irregular satellites at Jupiter. The capture efficiency for each particle in the original transplanetary disk is found to be (1.3–3.6) × 10 −8 . This is roughly enough to explain the observed population of jovian irregular moons. We also confirm Nesvorný et al.'s results for the irregular satellites of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

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Crossref · 10.1088/0004-637x/784/1/22

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  • Retrograde orbits are generally the result of captured small objects, like many of the Solar System's retrograde moons.

    “However, this raises more questions on the origin of such a ring since retrograde orbits are generally the result of captured small objects, like many of the Solar System's retrograde moons (Nesvorný et al., 2014;Higuchi and Ida 2016;Namouni and Morais 2018).”

    From A Self-Gravitating Exoring Around J1407b and Implications for In-Situ Exomoon Formation (2022) · cites this paper as Nesvorný et al., 2014

    The Introduction says that the outer planets’ irregular satellites often have retrograde orbits and are thought to have been captured from heliocentric orbits. This supports the example of captured retrograde moons, but the paper does not establish that retrograde orbits generally result from capture across all kinds of objects and settings. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The stability of distant retrograde orbits is demonstrated by many captured moons in the Solar System.

    “The stability of distant retrograde orbits is also demonstrated by many captured moons in the Solar System (Gladman et al., 2001;Nesvorný et al., 2014) and are beneficial for future space missions (Ming and Shijie 2009;Bezrouk and Parker 2017).”

    From A Self-Gravitating Exoring Around J1407b and Implications for In-Situ Exomoon Formation (2022) · cites this paper as Nesvorný et al., 2014

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Fraser, W. C., Brown, M. E., Morbidelli, A., Parker, A., & Batygin, K. 2014, AJ, submitted (arXiv:1401.2157) · arXiv
  2. Nicholson, P. D., Ćuk, M., Sheppard, S. S., Nesvorný, D., & Johnson, T. V. 2008, in The Solar System Beyond Neptune, ed. M. A. Barucci et al. (Tucson, AZ: Univ. Arizona Press), 411

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Authors
Nesvorný, D., Vokrouhlický, D., & Deienno, R.
Affiliations
Southwest Research Institute (US)
ORCID
Venue
The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
American Astronomical Society
Published
2014-02-27
Volume
784
Issue
1
Pages
22
ISSN
  • 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
  • 1538-4357
DOI
10.1088/0004-637x/784/1/22
OpenAlex
W1967364797
Cited by
107
References
27
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 6
FWCI
5.21
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Space Satellite Systems and Control
Keywords
irregular satellites, Jupiter, satellite capture, planetary encounters, ice giants, capture efficiency, orbital distribution, outer planet satellites

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