[meteorite-list] Venus May Have Once Had A Moon

[Philip R. Burns]

At 02:57 PM 10/11/2006, Rob McCafferty wrote:

>If log angular momentum is plotted vs log Mass, all
>planets fit nicely on a line except Venus and Mercury
>(Earth/moon system needs to be combined).
>Now since angular momentum is a conserved quantity, it
>matters not one jot how far a planet and its moon
>drift apart. Combine the angular momentum of Venus and
>Mercury and they slot nicely on the line like all the
>others.
>If some accuse me of favouring an idea which is too
>neat, I'd accuse the author of this article of this
>article of over-thinking a problem. The peculiar
>rotation of venus is rather nicely explained by it
>losing a moon, especially one as big as Mercury.

I believe the late Robert Harrington (d. 1993) of the U. S. Naval 
Observatory proposed many years ago that Mercury was an escaped moon 
of Venus.  I don't have the reference to hand, but it shouldn't be 
too hard to find.


-- Philip R. "Pib" Burns
    pib at pibburns.com
    http://www.pibburns.com/