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Captured Satellite Moves To Equatorial Plane
Captured Satellite Moves To Equatorial Plane
Captured Satellite Moves To Equatorial Plane
Figure 1: The centroid of the planet is at O; the x-y axes and the equator of the planet are congruent; radian/second is the z-axis angular velocity of the planet; the distance from O to satellite center S is R and the base OA of right triangle AOS lies in the x-y plane. The angle at O is defined by the right triangle OAS. MATHEMATICAL DERIVATION A right-hand coordinate system is shown in Fig. 1. The letter sequence x, y, z is preserved in the algebra of coordinates: that is, positive rotational sequences are those in which the positive z-axis is that for which the positive x-axis rotates to the positive y-axis; positive y-axis is defined by rotating the positive z-axis to the positive x-axis; and the positive x-axis is defined by rotating the positive y-axis to the positive z-axis. The magnitude of vector OS = R is shown in Fig. 1 and used in eq. (1) to define the vector Xi (i = 1, 2, 3) using Schoutens Tensor notation. Cos Cos Xi = R (displacement units) Cos Sin (unit vector matrix) (1) Sin The matrix in eq. (1) is a unit vector because the dot product XX = R2. The 1, 2 and 3 components of eq. (1) are the x, y and zdisplacement components of a satellite measured from O. The mathematical derivation will show that a satellite like that in Fig. 1 that is near a spinning planet will, in time, be captured by the planet. It will be shown that a captured satellite will move toward the equatorial plane of a planet (the required nearness of satellite to planet is not discussed).
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RESULTS The left side of eq. (6) defines the linear z-component of satellite acceleration. The algebraic sign of a satellites linear z-component of acceleration is defined by Tan . The linear z-axis satellite velocity and displacement are obtained by integrating eq. (6) and have the same sign as the acceleration. Consider just four solutions of eq. (6). Item A in Table 1 applies to satellites already orbiting a planet but displaced a small positive displacement from the equatorial plane of a spinning planet. Item B in Table 1 applies to satellites already orbiting a planet but displaced a small negative displacement from the equatorial plane of a spinning planet. Item C in Table 1 applies to a captured satellite that is originally displaced a large positive z-displacement from the equatorial plane. Item D in Table 1 applies to a captured satellite that is originally displaced a large negative z-displacement from the equatorial plane.
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DISCUSSION The Chinese historian Xi Zezong, working in the 20th Century, is known to have examined many ancient Chinese documents. In one ancient document Xi Zezong says he discovered that Chinese Astronomer Gan De, a man of excellent eyesight, had seen and recorded in the year 362 b.c.e his observation of Jupiter and its moon Ganymede. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) saw at least one moon of Planet Jupiter on the night of 11 January 1607 and eventually identified four moons. Galileo wrote about the Moons in the Starry Messenger (Sidereus Nuncius). It was the orbital motion of the moons around the planet Jupiter and his support for orbital motion of Earth about the Sun for which Galileo was charged with heresy. The charge harmed his personal life, halted his work as an independent scientist and made it impossible for him to converse with other scientists. Galileo, the Father Of Science, was imprisoned from 1634 until 1642. The Galilean satellites were also observed by Simon Mayr in 1614. It was Mayr who suggested the moon names Io, Europa, Ganymede and Calisto. Figure 2 shows the four moons orbiting Planet Jupiter. These moons populate the equatorial plane of Jupiter.
z
Calisto Ganymede Europa
o
Io
Equator Jupiter
Figure 2: The Planet Jupiter is shown spinning at radian per second about the z-axis with the four Galilean moons orbiting and populating the equatorial plane. CONCLUSIONS Except for unusual and unpredictable circumstances (cataclysmic), the equatorial motion of satellites around a spinning planet tend to remain in the equatorial plane of that planet. Nearby satellites, those not at the equatorial plane of a planet will, in time, move to the equatorial plane. Furthermore, a planet that doesnt rotate or spin about a centroidal axis tends not to attract satellites.
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