Re: Planet rotation

[Leigh Palmer <palmer@SFU.CA>]

> David is correct, but the time for this interaction to complete the
> locking process is not readily calculable. I've been working on the
> interesting problem of Neptune and Triton without much success. The
> process approaches completion asymptotically anyway, since in the
> end the relative motion will be nutation about the lock with ever
> diminishing amplitude. I should also mention that another tendency
> of such two body tidal interactions is circularization of the orbit.
>
> Leigh

I didn't mean the Neptune-Triton process approaches a tidal lock
and circularization. It can't because Triton is in a retrograde
orbit about Neptune. Triton will "eventually" crash into Neptune
if Neptune doesn't evaporate when the Sun evolves (it probably
won't). The Sun-Venus system should approach the condition
described in the original note.

Leigh