Consider two satellites with masses and . If is sufficiently massive, it will pull in at
apocenter, making it reach apocenter sooner than normal and causing a regression of the line of apsides (rather
than the progression which would normally occur because of the oblateness of the satellites). A secular increase in the
eccentricity also results.
References
Peale, S. In Planetary Satellites (Ed. J. Burns). Tucson, AZ.: University of Arizona Press, p. 167, 1977.
© 1996-2007 Eric W. Weisstein
