Benoit Noyelles

University of Franche-Comté | UFC · Institut UTINAM

Context . The long-period comet C/1908 R1 (Morehouse) is distinguished by its early spectroscopic tail photography, which uncovered notably intense emission bands of N 2 ⁺ and CO ⁺ , similar to the unusual characteristics of the atypical blue comet C/2016 R2 (Pan-STARRS). Aims . To probe potential parallels with C/2016 R2 further, we revisited the...

Comets are pristine relics of the early Solar System, formed from the agglomeration of icy grains and dust particles, offering insights into the evolution of the protosolar nebula (PSN). Despite their usual water-ice richness, the blue comet C/2016 R2 (PanSTARRS) exhibited atypical abundance ratios, with a H2O/CO upper limit of < 0.32 %, weak CN li...

Here we present the current state of knowledge on the long-term evolution of Saturn’s moon system due to tides within Saturn. First we provide some background on tidal evolution, orbital resonances and satellite tides. Then we address in detail some of the present and past orbital resonances between Saturn’s moons (including the Enceladus-Dione and...

Moons potentially harbouring a global ocean are tending to become relatively common objects in the Solar System¹. The presence of these long-lived global oceans is generally betrayed by surface modification owing to internal dynamics². Hence, Mimas would be the most unlikely place to look for the presence of a global ocean³. Here, from detailed ana...

Comets are seen as depleted in nitrogen compared to the protosolar value, but a small number exhibit significantly higher than typical N2/CO ratios: C/1908 R1 (Morehouse), C/1940 R2 (Cunningham), C/1947 S1 (Bester), C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland), C/1957 P1 (Mrkos), C/1961 R1 (Humason), C/1969 Y1 (Bennett), C/1973 E1 (Kohoutek), C/1975 V1-A (West), C/198...

Context. Comet C/2016 R2 PanSTARRS (hereafter C/2016 R2) presents an unusually high N 2 /CO abundance ratio, as well as a heavy depletion in H 2 O, making it the only known comet of its kind. Understanding its dynamical history is therefore of essential importance as it would allow us to gain a clearer understanding of the evolution of planetesimal...

Comet C/2016 R2 PanSTARRS (hereafter C/2016 R2) presents an unusually high N2/CO abundance ratio, as well as a heavy depletion in H2O, making it the only known comet of its kind. Understanding its dynamical history is therefore of essential importance as it would allow us to gain a clearer understanding of the evolution of planetesimal formation in...

Observations of comet C/2016 R2 (PanSTARRS) have revealed exceptionally bright emission bands of N$_2^+$, the strongest ever observed in a comet spectrum. Alternatively, it appears to be poor in CN compared to other comets, and remarkably depleted in H2O. Here we quantify the N2 production rate from N$_2^+$ emission lines using the Haser model. We...

Celestial bodies approximated with rigid triaxial ellipsoids in a two-body system can rotate chaotically due to the time-varying gravitational torque from the central mass. At small orbital eccentricity values, rotation is short-term orderly and predictable within the commensurate spin-orbit resonances, while at eccentricity approaching unity, chao...

Celestial bodies approximated with rigid triaxial ellipsoids in a two-body system can rotate chaotically due to the time-varying gravitational torque from the central mass. At small orbital eccentricity values, rotation is short-term orderly and predictable within the commensurate spin-orbit resonances, while at eccentricity approaching unity, chao...

Context. N 2 is rarely found in comets, or when it is present, it is found only in small quantities despite its abundance on the surfaces of different outer Solar System objects. A few comets presented N 2 ⁺ emission lines in their optical spectra. One of them, C/2016 R2, showed an unusually high abundance of this species in 2018, with dozens of br...

Since 2005 December, recurrent outbursts have been observed for Centaur 174/P Echeclus, confirming it is an active object. Thanks to a large number of photometric data obtained between 2001 April and 2019 December we were able to compute a shape model of this object. We obtain a sidereal rotation period P = 26.785178 ± 10−6 h and six equally probab...

In 2017, the Cassini mission Grand Finale provided hints at the total mass of Saturn’s ring system, constraining the age of the rings: they could actually be about 200 million years old or even younger. However, the present radial mass distribution across the rings is not well understood. The most prominent structure, visible from Earth, is the Cas...

This study is a companion paper to Baillié et al., in which we showed that a past episode of inward migration of Mimas could have created the Cassini Division. We here investigate the possible causes of this inward migration. We suggest two scenarios: one based on a past intense heating of Mimas, and another one on a past intense heating of Encelad...

During the thirteen years in orbit around Saturn before its final plunge, the Cassini spacecraft provided more than ten thousand astrometric measurements. Such large amounts of accurate data enable the search for extremely faint signals in the orbital motion of the saturnian moons. Among these, the detection of the dynamical feedback of the rotatio...

Context. Natural satellite systems present a large variety of orbital configurations in the solar system. While some are clearly the result of known processes, others still have largely unexplained eccentricity and inclination values. Iapetus, the furthest of Saturn’s main satellites, has a still unexplained 3% orbital eccentricity and its orbital...

Natural satellite systems present a large variety of orbital configurations in the solar system. While some are clearly the result of known processes, others still have largely unexplained eccentricity and inclination values. Iapetus has a still unexplained 3% orbital eccentricity and its orbital plane is tilted with respect to its local Laplace pl...

A mistake appeared in the original paper, which propagated. This affects the phase of the diurnal libration. The conclusions are unchanged.

A Hamiltonian model is constructed for the spin axis of a planet perturbed by a nearby planet with both planets in orbit about star. We expand the planet-planet gravitational potential perturbation to first order in orbital inclinations and eccentricities, finding terms describing spin resonances involving the spin precession rate and the two plane...

Several natural satellites of the giant planets have shown evidence of a global internal ocean, coated by a thin, icy crust. This crust is probably viscoelastic, which would alter its rotational response. This response would translate into several rotational quantities, i.e. the obliquity, and the librations at different frequencies, for which the...

New Horizons mission observations show that the small satellites Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra, of the Pluto-Charon system, have not tidally spun-down to near synchronous spin states and have high obliquities with respect to their orbit about the Pluto-Charon binary. We use a damped mass-spring model within an N-body simulation to study spin and ob...

Most of the main planetary satellites of our Solar System are expected to be in synchronous rotation, the departures from the strict synchronicity being a signature of the interior. Librations have been measured for the Moon, Phobos, and some satellites of Saturn. I here revisit the theory of the longitudinal librations in considering that part of...

http://cmg2016.sciencesconf.org/92676/document

The rotation of Mercury is a unique case in the Solar System since this planet is locked into a 3:2 spin-orbit resonance. We here simulate the despinning of Mercury, with or without a fluid core, and with a frequency-dependent tidal model employed. The tidal model incorporates the viscoelastic (Maxwell) rebound at low forcing frequencies and a pred...

The Saturnian satellite Titan is one of the main targets of the Cassini-Huygens mission, which revealed in particular Titan's shape, gravity field, and rotation state. The shape and gravity field suggest that Titan is not in hydrostatic equilibrium, that it has a global subsurface ocean, and that its ice shell is both rigid (at tidal periods) and o...

This HDR-thesis is devoted to the study of the rotation of the natural satellites of the giant planets and of Mercury. These bodies have a resonant rotation. Most of the natural satellites rotate synchronously, showing the same hemisphere to their parent planet (1:1 spin-orbit resonance). The case of Mercury is unique since its spin rate is exactly...

Context. In 2009, the Sun and the Earth passed through the equatorial plane of Jupiter and therefore the orbital planes of its main satellites. It was the equinox on Jupiter. This occurrence made mutual occultations and eclipses between the satellites possible. Experience has shown that the observations of such events provide accurate astrometric d...

Giant planets helped to shape the conditions we see in the Solar System today and they account for more than 99% of the mass of the Sun's planetary system. They can be subdivided into the Ice Giants (Uranus and Neptune) and the Gas Giants (Jupiter and Saturn), which differ from each other in a number of fundamental ways. Uranus, in particular is th...

Like our Moon, the majority of the solar system’s satellites are locked in a 1:1 spin-orbit resonance; on average, these satellites show the same face toward the planet at a constant rotation rate equal to the satellite’s orbital rate. In addition to the uniform rotational motion, physical librations (oscillations about an equilibrium) also occur....

Giant planets helped to shape the conditions we see in the Solar System today and they account for more than 99% of the mass of the Sun’s planetary system. They can be subdivided into the Ice Giants (Uranus and Neptune) and the Gas Giants (Jupiter and Saturn), which differ from each other in a number of fundamental ways. Uranus, in particular is th...

We constructed a 6-degrees of freedom rotational model of Titan as a 3-layer body consisting of a rigid core, a fluid global ocean, and a floating ice shell. The ice shell exhibits partially-compensated lateral thickness variations in order to simultaneously match the observed degree-two gravity and shape coefficients. The rotational dynamics are a...

Miranda has a unusually high inclination ($I=4.338^\circ$), and its surface reveals signs of past endogenic activity. Investigations of the dynamical aspects of its orbital evolution suggest probable resonant processes, in particular with Umbriel, as an explanation for the present high inclination of Miranda. The tidal heating induced by gravitatio...

Some of the main satellites of Uranus, in particular Miranda and Ariel, present evidence of a past geophysical activity. This activity is due to heating during its history, but several causes for this heating are envisaged, in particular the tides and an / some impact(s), following radiogenic heating at the early stage of the evolution of these bod...

Mercury's spin state is peculiar, in that it is locked into the 3:2 spin-orbit resonance. Its rotation period, 58 days, is exactly two thirds of its orbital period. It is accepted that the eccentricity of Mercury (0.206) favours the trapping into this resonance. More controversial is how the capture took place. A recent study by Makarov has shown t...

The measurement of the obliquity of Mercury is a crucial step for the knowledge of the interior of the planet. In particular, it gives straightforwardly the polar moment of inertia C. A recent measurement by Margot et al. (2012) gives an obliquity of 2.04 +/- 0.08 arcmin, yielding C = (0.346 +/- 0.014) MR2 using a famous formula due to Peale (1969)...

The Uranian satellite Miranda presents a high inclination (4 $_{.}^{\circ}$338) and evidence of resurfacing. For the past 20 years it has been accepted that this inclination is due to the past trapping into the 3:1 resonance with Umbriel. These last years there is a renewal of interest for the Uranian system since the Hubble Space Telescope permitt...

Earth-based radar observations of the rotational dynamics of Mercury (Margot et al. 2012) combined with the determination of its gravity field by MESSENGER (Smith et al. 2012) give clues on the internal structure of Mercury, in particular its polar moment of inertia C, deduced from the obliquity (2.04 +/- 0.08) arcmin. The dynamics of the obliquity...

Possible Mimas' orbital decay has been revealed recently from astrometric measurements of the main Saturnian moons (Lainey et al. 2012). Based on this assumption, we studied Saturn's ring evolution over 20 Myr, taking into account resonancesa ssociated with Mimas, like the 2:1 resonance currently placed at the outer edge of the B-ring. Depending on...

GETEMME (Gravity, Einstein’s Theory, and Exploration of the Martian Moons’ Environment), a mission which is being proposed in ESA’s Cosmic Vision program, shall be launched for Mars on a Soyuz Fregat in 2020. The spacecraft will initially rendezvous with Phobos and Deimos in order to carry out a comprehensive mapping and characterization of the two...

We here study the rotation of the satellite of Jupiter Io, in considering core-mantle coupling. This satellite is particularly interesting because it experiences strong tidal dissipation inducing a very active surface. Moreover, the flow of the fluid inside its core is reputed to be unstable. We first elaborate 10 different models of the interior o...

Determining the exact location of a (dynamical) equilibrium is a major task for the subsequent analysis of the system behavior in a neighborhood of such a point. This can be a tough task when the dynamics is complex especially when external forces are in action. We hereby present an algorithm, using frequency analysis, converging efficiently to thi...

Astrometric measurements reveal the possibility that the saturnian satellite Mimas could be evolving inward instead of outward (Lainey et al. 2012), as usually thought. Based on this assumption, we studied the behavior of the satellites and the rings over 20 Myr. A numerical integration of the equations of the satellites shows that Mimas has crosse...

We hereby present an algorithm, using frequency analysis, converging efficiently to this equilibrium when the system is perturbed by quasisinusoidal forcing. It consists in removing iteratively the free oscillations of the system. It has been successfully applied to the resonant rotation of Mercury and natural satellites in considering up to 4 degr...

We study here the rotation of the Galilean satellite of Jupiter Io, in considering core-mantle coupling. This satellite is particularly interesting because it experiences strong tidal dissipation inducing a very active surface. Moreover, the flow of the fluid inside its core is reputed to be unstable. We first elaborate 10 different models of the i...

This note tackles the problem of the rotation of Io with the 4-degrees of freedom Poincar\'e-Hough model. Io is modeled as a 2-layer body, i.e. a triaxial fluid core and a rigid outer layer. We show that the longitudinal librations should have an amplitude of about 30 arcseconds, independent of the composition of the core. We also estimate the tida...

Mercury is the target of the space missions MESSENGER and BepiColombo, that will in particular observe its rotation to get information on its internal structure. This requires a rigorous modelization of this rotation. A difficulty comes from the obliquity of Mercury, that behaves adiabatically, and so is tough to simulate over a short timescale wit...

This paper presents a study of the Poincar\'e-Hough model of rotation of the synchronous natural satellites, in which these bodies are assumed to be composed of a rigid mantle and a triaxial cavity filled with inviscid fluid of constant uniform density and vorticity. In considering an Io-like body on a low eccentricity orbit, we describe the differ...

This communication aims at exploring the possible behaviors of the rotational dynamics of a body locked in 1:1 spin-orbit resonance, consisting of a rigid mantle and a triaxial fluid core, in the approximation of the Poincaré model. For that we perform an extensive numerical study of the system in considering different possible parameters for the s...

We hereby introduce and study an algorithm able to determinate the initial conditions corresponding to the equilibrium rotational motion of tidally evolved natural satellites locked in spin-orbit resonance, hereby named Namur Algorithm For Forced Oscillations, NAFFO for short. NAFFO is based on the Numerical Analysis of the Fundamental Frequencies...

Since Voyager 2 space mission, we know some properties of the main Uranian satellites (Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon): on the one hand, we observe an important resurfacing of both Miranda and Ariel, and on the other hand some strangenesses in the orbital elements such as the anomalously high inclinaison of Miranda or the anomalously high...

The Cassini space mission gives the opportunity to have a better knowledge of the properties of the main Saturnian satellites. Among them, Mimas is up to now poorly known, and was considered as a cold rigid body until Cassini observed surface temperature inhomogeneities. The scope of this study is to model the rotation of Mimas with different inter...

The Cassini mission in the Saturnian system is an outstanding opportunity to improve our knowledge of the satellites of Saturn. The data obtained thanks to this mission must be confronted to theoretical models. This paper aims at modeling the rotation of Mimas, with respect to its possible internal structure. For that, we first build different inte...

The “Ice Giants” Uranus and Neptune are a different class of planet compared to Jupiter and Saturn. Studying these objects is important for furthering our understanding of the formation and evolution of the planets, and unravelling the fundamental physical and chemical processes in the Solar System. The importance of filling these gaps in our knowl...

We hereby introduce and study an algorithm able to search for initial conditions corresponding to orbits presenting forced oscillations terms only, namely to completely remove the free or proper oscillating part. This algorithm is based on the Numerical Analysis of the Fundamental Frequencies algorithm by J. Laskar, for the identification of the fr...

The “Ice Giants” Uranus and Neptune are a different class of planet compared to Jupiter and Saturn. Studying these objects is important for furthering our understanding of the formation and evolution of the planets, and unravelling the fundamental physical and chemical processes in the Solar System. The importance of filling these gaps in our knowl...

The resonant rotation of Mercury can be modelised by a kernel model on which we can add perturbations. Our kernel model is a two-degree of freedom one written in Hamiltonian formalism. For this kernel, we consider that Mercury is solid and rotates on a Keplerian orbit. By introducing the perturbations due to the other planets of the Solar System, i...

We present an adaptation of the Poincare model of core-mantle interaction (Poincare 1910, Touma & Wisdom 2001) to the rotation of Mercury, in which the planet is seen as composed of a rigid mantle and an elliptical liquid core. Thanks to a Hamiltonian formulation, we perform extensively both an analytical (Lie transforms) and a numerical analysis o...

The Saturnian coorbital satellites Janus and Epimetheus present a unique dynamical configuration in the Solar System, because of high-amplitude horseshoe orbits, due to a mass ratio of order unity. As a consequence, they swap their orbits every 4 years, while their orbital periods is about 0.695 days. Recently, Tiscareno et al.(2009) got observatio...

Mercury is the target of two space missions: MESSENGER (NASA) which orbit insertion is planned for March 2011, and ESA/JAXA BepiColombo, that should be launched in 2014. Their instruments will observe the surface of the planet with a high accuracy (about 1 arcsec for BepiColombo), what motivates studying its rotation. Mercury is assumed to be compo...

As most of the natural satellites of the Solar System, the Galilean moons are since a long time assumed to be tidally locked in a spin-orbit synchronous resonance. Thanks to the mission Galileo, we now dispose of enough gravity data to perform 3-dimensional theories of the rotation of these satellites, in particular to model the departure from the...

The Saturnian coorbital satellites Janus and Epimetheus present a unique dynamical configuration in the Solar System, because of high-amplitude horseshoe orbits, due to a mass ratio of order unity. As a consequence, they swap their orbits every 4 years, while their orbital periods is about 0.695 days. Recently, Tiscareno et al.(2009) got observatio...

In the framework of the space missions to Mercury, an accurate model of rotation is needed. Librations around the 3:2 spin-orbit resonance as well as latitudinal librations have to be predicted with the best possible accuracy. In this paper, we use a Hamiltonian analysis and numerical integrations to study the librations of Mercury, both in longitu...

Mercury is the target of two space missions: MESSENGER, which carried out its first and second flybys of Mercury on January 14, 2008 and October 6, 2008, and the ESA/JAXA space mission BepiColombo, scheduled to arrive at Mercury in 2020. The preparation of these missions requires a good knowledge of the rotation of Mercury.This paper presents studi...

The rotation of the main natural satellites of the Solar System is widely assumed to be synchronous, because this corresponds to an equilibrium state. In the case of the Moon, 3 laws have been formulated by Cassini, assuming a spin–orbit resonance and a 1:1 nodal resonance. The recent gravitational data collected by the spacecrafts Galileo (in the...

With the space missions MESSENGER and BepiColombo, there has been a renewed interest for Mercury. In this framework, we study the longitudinal and latitudinal librations of a 2-layer Mercury. We apply Hamiltonian mechanics to determine the effects of planetary perturbations on the librations (using both analytical and numerical methods). The librat...

Context. In 2003, the Sun and the Earth passed through both the equatorial plane of Jupiter and therefore the orbital planes of its main satellites. Aims. During this period, mutual eclipses and occultations were observed and we present the data collected.Methods. Light curves of mutual eclipses and occultations were recorded by the observers of th...

After a CCD image of the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter is obtained by a long focal length telescope, we can compare the theoretical positions of these satellites with their pixel positions so as to obtain the calibration parameters of the CCD field of view. In theory, when two of the four satellites have small enough separation, their relativ...

Our knowledge of the gravity field of Titan has been recently improved thanks to the fly-bys of Cassini spacecraft, that provided us first values of Titan's J_2 and C_{22}, unfortunately without any indication of the polar inertial momentum C. Anyway, these data allowed us to give last year a first 3-dimensional description of the rotation of Titan...

The space missions MESSENGER and BepiColombo require precise short-term studies of Mercury's rotation. In this scope, we perform analytically and numerically by Hamiltonian approach a synthetic 2-dimensional representation of its rotation, using complete ephemerides of the orbital motions of the planets of the Solar System. This representation allo...

We performed a 3-dimensional theory of the rotation of Titan, seen as a rigid body. Using an analytical model, we determine the frequencies of the free librations around the exact Cassini state, which are respectively 2.1, 167 and 306 years. Then we use the numerical tool and the complete ephemerides (TASS 1.6) of the orbital motion of Titan to giv...

The space missions Messenger and Bepi-Colombo require precise short-term studies of Mercury's rotation. In this scope, we performed analytically and numerically a synthetic 3-dimensional representation of this rotation, using complete ephemerides of the orbital motions of the planets. In particular, we enlight the perturbations of Venus and Jupiter...

In Noyelles et al. (Astron. Astrophys. 478, 959–970 (2008)), a resonance involving the wobble of Titan is hinted at. This paper studies this scenario and its consequences. The first step is to build an accurate analytical model that would help to find the likely resonances in the rotation of every synchronous body. In this model, I take the orbital...

The space missions to Mercury (Messenger or BepiColombo) will provide new data about the rotation of the planet, which should induce a much better knowledge of its internal structure. Besides huge numerical integrations, an efficient treatment of these data requires a complete analytical model of rotation for Mercury, which is nowadays inexistent....

We study the forced rotation of Titan seen as a rigid body at the equilibrium Cassini state, involving the spin-orbit synchronization. We used both the analytical and the numerical ways. We analytically determined the equilibrium positions and the frequencies of the 3 free librations around it, while a numerical integration associated to frequency...

This paper aims at studying the long-term orbital consequences of the perturbations related to De Haerdtl inequality, a current quasi-commensurability between the Galilean satellites of Jupiter Ganymede and Callisto. We used the method of Frequency Map Analysis to detect a chaotic behavior in a 5-bodies system where every inequality has been droppe...

We examine the problem of detecting the observational signature of tides in the Saturnian system. We show that, because of energy transfer encouraged by the mean-motion resonances, S-1 Mimas' secular acceleration should be detected by observing S-3 Tethys instead of Mimas itself. We have a similar conclusion for the Enceladus/Dione resonance. We al...

We present a 3-degree of freedom theory of Titan's forced rotation, as a rigid body. Such a study is possible thanks to the Cassini data of the gravitational potential of Titan. We use a semi-analytical model based on the recent analytical works of Henrard & Schwanen (2004), on a numerical integration and on an identification of the arguments as an...

We describe and analyze observations of mutual events of Galilean satellites made at the Yunnan Observatory in February 2003 from CCD imaging for the first time in China. Astrometric positions were deduced from these photometric observations by modelling the relative motion and the photometry of the involved satellites during each event.

Tidal dissipation inside gaseous planets is crucial for the study of their long term evolution. For the exo-planets tidal dissipation has often been estimated from the Solar system giant planets. The tidal dissipation inside Saturn and Jupiter can be determined from theoretical assumptions on the orbital evolution of their satellites. This provides...