Roche limit
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The Roche limit (pronounced /ˈroʊʃ/), sometimes referred to as the Roche radius, is the distance within which a celestial body, held together only by its own gravity, will disintegrate due to a second celestial body's tidal forces exceeding the first body's gravitational self-attraction.[1] Inside the Roche limit, orbiting material will tend to disperse and form rings, while outside the limit, material will tend to coalesce. The term is named after Édouard Roche, the French astronomer who first calculated this theoretical limit in 1848.[2]
[change] References
- ↑ Eric W. Weisstein (2007). Eric Weisstein's World of Physics - Roche Limit (English). scienceworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved on September 5, 2007.
- ↑ NASA. What is the Roche limit? (English). NASA - JPL. Retrieved on September 5, 2007.
[change] Sources
- Édouard Roche: La figure d'une masse fluide soumise à l'attraction d'un point éloigné, Acad. des sciences de Montpellier, Vol. 1 (1847–50) p. 243
[change] Other websites