Exospheric perturbations by radiation pressure: II. Solution for orbits in the ecliptic plane |
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| Authors: | Joseph W Chamberlain |
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| Institution: | Department of Space Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77001, USA |
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| Abstract: | An earlier paper gave solutions for the mean time rates of change of orbital elements of satellite atoms in an exosphere influenced by solar radiation pressure. Each element was assumet to beahve independently. Here the instantaneous rates of change for three elements are integrated simultaneously for the case of the inclination i = 0. The results (a) confirm the validity of using mean rates when the orbits are tightly bound to the planet and (b) serve as examples to be reproduced by the complicated numerical solutions required for arbitrary inclination. Strongly bound hydrogen atoms perturbed in Earth orbit by radiation pressure do not seem a likely cause of the geotail extending in the anti-Sun direction. Instead, radiation pressure wil cause those particles' orbits to form a broad fan-shaped tail and to deteriorate into the Earth's atmosphere. Whether loosely bound H atoms are plentiful enough to create the geotail depends on their source function versusr; that question is beyond the scope of this paper. |
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