captured rotation


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cap·tured rotation

(kăp′chərd)
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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The idea of Mercury having a captured rotation was due to direct observational evidence collected during the late 19th century by G.
A comparison of PAR data with the damage path shows that the radar captured rotation in the storm 12 minutes before it touched down.
Schiaparelli had every reason to suppose that tidal friction with the Sun had also produced a "captured rotation" for Mercury, locking its day into the period of its year--87.9693 days.
Darwin coined the terms "tidal friction" and "captured rotation" to describe this mechanism and its consequence.