Roche limit

Uncommon card · No. 80371

In celestial mechanics, the Roche limit, also called Roche radius, is the distance from a celestial body within which a second celestial body, held together only by its own force of gravity, will disintegrate because the first body's tidal forces exceed the second body's self-gravitation. Inside the Roche limit, orbiting material disperses and forms rings, whereas outside the limit, material tends to coalesce. The Roche radius depends on the radius of the second body and on the ratio of the bodies' densities. The term is named after Édouard Roche (French: [ʁɔʃ], English: ROSH), the French astronomer who first calculated this theoretical limit in 1848.

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