An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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A loss of → orbital angular momentum by tiny ring particles associated with their absorption and re-emission of → solar radiation. Also known as the → Poynting-Robertson effect (Ellis et al., 2007, Planetary Ring Systems, Springer).

→ Poynting-Robertson; → drag.

The effect of → solar radiation on a small (centimeter-sized) particle in → orbit around the Sun that causes it to lose velocity and fall gradually into the Sun. The particle → absorbs solar radiation and → radiates the energy → isotropically in its own frame. The particle thereby preferentially radiates (and loses → angular momentum) in the forward direction in the → inertial frame of the Sun (aberration effect). This leads to a decrease in the particle's angular momentum and causes it to spiral sunward. In contrast, the → Yarkovsky effect is anisotropic; the object may be accelerated or decelerated.

→ Poynting's theorem; Howard Percy Robertson (1903-1961), American physicist and mathematician; → effect.