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An Uncomplicated Question
- To: "'Meteorite List'" <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com>
- Subject: An Uncomplicated Question
- From: Steven Excell <excell@concentric.net>
- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 23:30:22 -0800
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- Resent-Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 02:35:41 -0500 (EST)
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"Is it the consensus of this group that the Asteroid Belt is a former
planet having undergone a catastrophic hit or other calamity? And,
subsequently, if so, why the name 'asteroid' is preferred to
'planetoid' which would be far more accurate, no? Regards, jj"
The answer is NO for most scientists. Almost 5,000 Main Belt asteroids have been identified between Mars and Jupiter. The Titius-Bode Rule defined the systematic order of the planets with mathematical precision -- with the exception of the missing plant between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists do not have a good explanation of why the thermal gradient of the planetary disk condensed debris that accreted into proto-planets in the mathematical orbits as precisely described by the Titius-Bode Rule. However, they have calculated that the the gas giant Jupiter, having formed first, exerted such a great gravitational force on the Main Belt that a planet could not accrete from the debris in this area of the solar system. This does not mean that impacts were not commonplace during the early history of our solar system (they were), nor that collisions do not occur within the Main Belt even today (they do). On occassion, these collisions knock a piece of an asteroid our way (thank goodness for science and meteorite collectors). Hope this helps,
Steve