Why Venus Has No Moon

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Why Venus has No Moon Alex Alemi D. Stevenson Caltech Motivation • Late Stage Aggregation – ~ Mars impactors • Earth’s moon – Large Impact Hypothesis – SPH models of Moon formation • What was story for Venus? Moon-forming Impacts • J~0.6 JEM required to form a moon • LSA models involve larger Collisions • I = moment of inertia of Venus = 0.34 M R 2 v v (avg largest = 1.44 JEM) • Mv = mass of Venus • Rv = radius of Venus • Ms = mass of the satellite • a =orbital distance • w = spin of Venus 3 1/2 • n = (GMv/a ) is the orbital mean motion of the moon Agnor C.B., R.M. Canup, and H.F. Levison. 1999. On the Character and Consequences of Large Impacts in the Late Stage of Terrestrial Formation. Icarus 142. 219-237 1 Large Impact • If moon is formed, it proves difficult to get rid of. • Venus’ Hill Sphere too large to allow easy escape. • Solar Tides too slow to cause inward evolution and coalescence • Large impact -> Large spin, becomes difficult to explain Venus’ current slow rotation Canup R.M. 2004 Simulations of a Late Lunar Forming Impact. Icarus. 168 433-456. Two Impact Story • Two Large impacts of opposite angular momentum • ~25% of planets in Agnor et al underwent more than one 1 JEM collision • Causes reversal of tidal evolution -> inward coalescence • Moon returns on 107 year timescales • Results in low primordial spin Scenarios # of Large Impacts 0 Unlikely according to LSA. It becomes hard to explain Venus’ mass. 1 Results in large primordial spin. Difficult to get rid of moon. 2 Models suggest 2 large impacts still probable (~ 25%). Provides easy mechanism to dispose of moon. Results in low primordial spin. >2 Becomes less probable as number of large impacts increases. Conclusion • Venus not having a moon is at least as interesting as Earth having a substantial one. • Two large impacts of opposite sense can explain the missing moon and slow rotation.

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