Rotation of the Solar System Bodies

Abstract

Solar System bodies are different. They have different sizes, from large planets to small asteroids, and shapes. They have different structure, from solid body to solid body with fluid atmosphere or core, to gaseous bodies, but all of them rotate. The Solar System is a big laboratory for studying rotation of solid and fluid bodies.Different observational methods are applied to determine the rotation of the Solar system bodies. They depend on the position of the observer and on the structure of the bodies. The most accurate methods, laser ranging to the Moon and artificial satellites and Very Long Base radio Interferometry have been applied to the determination of the rotation of the Earth and the Moon. Their accuracy is better than 0.001”, which on the surface of the Earth corresponds to about 3 cm. Radiotracking of artifical satellites have been used for Earth, Moon, Venus, Mars. In the case of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto-Charon magnetic and photometric observations have been used respectively. Their accuracy is of the order of one tenth of a degree.