I was going around on the web and found a site that creates a solar system. One of the things it listed was “planet’s rotation is in a resonant spin lock with the star.”
What the heck does that mean? How does it differ from being tidally locked?
I think they mean that the planet would have a day/year relation that would be something like that of Mercury’s. It was long thought that Mercury was tidally locked–that its day and year were in a 1:1 ratio–but back in the 1960’s it was discovered that the ratio is actually 3:2–Mercury rotates on its axis three times for every two times it orbits the Sun.
How about a link to this cool-sounding site?
By the way, I concur with MEBuckner.