Using collisions and resonances to tilting Uranus
Abstract
Uranus’ large obliquity (98°) is widely thought to have occurred from a polar strike with an Earth sized object. Morbidelli et al. (2012) argue that two or more collisions are required in order to explain the prograde motion of Uranus’ satellites. These impactors could have been less massive by about a factor of ten, but multiple polar strikes are still improbable as even larger mass impactors would be needed for more equatorial collisions. Here we explore an alternative non-collisional model inspired by the explanation to Saturn’s significant tilt (27°). Ward and Hamilton (2004) & Hamilton and Ward (2004) argue that a secular resonance currently between Saturn’s spin axis and Neptune’s orbital pole is responsible for Saturn’s large obliquity. Unfortunately, Uranus’ axial precession frequency today is too long to match any of the current planets’ fundamental frequencies. Boué and Laskar (2010) explain that Uranus may have harbored an improbably large moon in the past which could have sped up the planet’s axial precession frequency enough to resonate with the regression of its own orbital pole. We explore another scenario which requires only the interactions between the giant planets.Thommes et al. (1999, 2002, 2003) argue that at least the cores of Uranus and Neptune were formed in between Jupiter and Saturn, as the density of the protoplanetary disk was greater there. If Neptune was scattered outward before Uranus, then a secular spin-orbit resonance between the two planets is possible. However, driving Uranus’ obliquity to near 90° with a resonance capture requires a timescale on the order of 100 Myr. If Neptune migrated out quicker or its orbital inclination was initially larger, then we find that the resulting resonance kick can tilt Uranus more than 40° in a reasonable timespan. This could replace one of the impactors required in the collisional scenario described by Morbidelli et al. (2012), but in most situations the effect of such a kick is only about 10°. Since collisions are therefore necessary to explain at least part of the tilting, we are now considering hybrid models that involve combinations of resonance captures and kicks, and collisions.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #231
- Pub Date:
- January 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AAS...23111502R