Sesquinary Catastrophe For Close-In Moons with Dynamically Excited Orbits

TL;DR

This paper introduces 'sesquinary catastrophe,' a new destructive mechanism for small, close-in moons caused by high-velocity re-impacting ejecta, and analyzes its implications for moons in the Solar System.

Contribution

The study identifies a novel erosion process affecting close-in moons and evaluates its impact on their stability and orbital evolution.

Findings

Most small close-in moons are immune to sesquinary catastrophe.

Resonant moonlets of Saturn may be affected by this process.

Constraints on past orbits of Phobos and Deimos are derived.

Abstract

We identify a new mechanism that can lead to the destruction of small, close-in planetary satellites. If a small moon close to the planet has a sizable eccentricity and inclination, its ejecta that escape to planetocentric orbit would often re-impact with much higher velocity due to the satellite's and the fragment's orbits precessing out of alignment. If the impacts of returning ejecta result in net erosion, a runaway process can occur which may end in disruption of the satellite, and we term this process ``sesquinary catastrophe''. We expect the moon to re-accrete, but on an orbit with significantly lower eccentricity and inclination. We find that the large majority of small close-in moons in the Solar System, have orbits that are immune to sesquinary catastrophe. The exceptions include a number of resonant moonlets of Saturn for which resonances may affect the velocities of re-impact of their own debris. Additionally, we find that Neptune's moon Naiad (and to a lesser degree, Jupiter's Thebe) must have substantial internal strength, in line with prior estimates based on Roche limit stability. We also find that sesquinary instability puts important constraints on the plausible past orbits of Phobos and Deimos or their progenitors.