Planetesimals and Satellitesimals: Formation of the Satellite Systems

Abstract

The origin of the regular satellites ties directly to planetary formation in that the satellites form in gas and dust disks around the giant planets and may be viewed as mini-solar systems, involving a number of closely related underlying physical processes. The regular satellites of Jupiter and Saturn share a number of remarkable similarities that taken together make a compelling case for a deep-seated order and structure governing their origin. Furthermore, the similarities in the mass ratio of the largest satellites to their primaries, the specific angular momenta, and the bulk compositions of the two satellite systems are significant and in need of explanation. Yet, the differences are also striking. We advance a common framework for the origin of the regular satellites of Jupiter and Saturn and discuss the accretion of satellites in gaseous, circumplanetary disks. Following giant planet formation, planetesimals in the planet's feeding zone undergo a brief period of intense collisional grinding. Mass delivery to the circumplanetary disk via ablation of planetesimal fragments has implications for a host of satellite observations, tying the history of planetesimals to that of satellitesimals and ultimately that of the satellites themselves. By contrast, irregular satellites are objects captured during the final stages of planetary formation or the early evolution of the Solar System; their distinct origin is reflected in their physical properties, which has implications for the subsequent evolution of the satellites systems.

19 pages, 1 figure. The chapter is to be in the Space Science Reviews, Europlanet vol. on Icy Satellites

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• Irregular Satellites of the Planets: Products of Capture in the Early Solar System
• Type I Planet Migration in Nearly Laminar Disks
• A new perspective on the irregular satellites of Saturn - I Dynamical and collisional history
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Cited by in corpus (11)

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• Formation of Giant Planet Satellites
• Solar System Physics for Exoplanet Research
• The Comparative Exploration of the Ice Giant Planets with Twin Spacecraft: Unveiling the History of our Solar System
• Resonant Removal of Exomoons During Planetary Migration
• From gas to satellitesimals: disk formation and evolution
• Building the Galilean moons system via pebble accretion and migration: A primordial resonant chain
• Satellitesimal Formation via Collisional Dust Growth in Steady Circumplanetary Disks
• Detectability of satellites around directly imaged exoplanets and brown dwarfs
• Evolution of a ring around the Pluto-Charon binary
• Photoevaporation of the Jovian circumplanetary disk I. Explaining the orbit of Callisto and the lack of outer regular satellites