Correia & Laskar, in their recent article, in J. Nature 429, 848-850 (2004), said that the spin-orbit resonance of Mercury is 3/2 (sidereal orbit period / sidereal rotation period). We may understand from their article that Mercury performs 1.5 cycle around its axis during its orbit-cycle...
Can anybody tell me what is the spin of Mercury, is it 3/2 or 1/2, and why?
- 3/2 = sidereal orbit period (87.969 days) / sidereal rotation period (1407.6 hrs)
- 1/2 = tropical orbit period (87.968 days) / length of day (4222.6 hrs)
Data are from NASA, planetary fact sheets.
Thank you Nereid; the architectonic approach for understanding the structure and motions of cosmic systems does not report on the results of any experimental studies; however, it uses only the published astronomical data for supporting its theoretical hypothesis. It is an attempt to show that...
Concerning this issue, I would like to introduce to you the architectonic approach on the structure of the celestial systems. It shows how an architect observes the laws of the cosmos. I am revitalizing an ancient but moral concept that was proposed by Pythagoras and Plato, about two and half...