Pre-late heavy bombardment evolution of the Earth's obliquity
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, The Institute for Theory and Computation, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
The Earth's obliquity is stabilized by the Moon, which facilitates a rapid precession of the Earth's spin axis, detuning the system away from resonance with orbital modulation. It is, however, likely that the architecture of the solar system underwent a dynamical instability-driven transformation, where the primordial configuration was more compact. Hence, the characteristic frequencies associated with orbital perturbations were likely faster in the past, potentially allowing for secular resonant encounters. In this work, we examine if, at any point in the Earth's evolutionary history, the obliquity varied significantly. Our calculations suggest that even though the orbital perturbations were different, the system nevertheless avoided resonant encounters throughout its evolution. This indicates that the Earth obtained its current obliquity during the formation of the Moon.
- OSTI ID:
- 22370295
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 795; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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