[meteorite-list] Comet smashes triggered ancient famine ???

From: lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu <lebofsky_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2009 09:20:22 -0700 (MST)
Message-ID: <52127.71.226.60.25.1231690822.squirrel_at_timber.lpl.arizona.edu>

Dave:

Here is a link to diagram of the comet in orbit around Jupiter. This is to
scale, so the orbit is very long and narrow and it major axis is about 350
times the diameter of Jupiter (50,000,000 km vs. 150,000 km).

http://www.astrosociety.org/education/publications/tnl/27/jupiter2.html

If you expand it (so not to scale) here is what it looked like:

http://www.astrosociety.org/education/publications/tnl/27/27.html

Again, the orbit major axis was 50.000,000 km and the trail (which
lengthed over time) was probably about 5,000,000 km which is why it took 5
days to do its thing. Each piece had a slightly different orbit due to
what happened when it broke up plus any effects due to the pull of the Sun
and non-gravitational things (each one had a tail which will gently push
the comet pieces).

Jupiter is in orbit around the Sun and the comet was just like any of
Jupiter's satellites, was in orbit around Jupiter. SL9 was a captured
satellite of Jupiter. It just so happened that in this case, the orbit at
it closest, got too close to Jupiter!



I hope this helps.


Larry

On Sun, January 11, 2009 8:25 am, Dave Gheesling wrote:
> Larry & All,
> Thanks much for taking the time to run through these details. Could you
> expand on your point #7 below? I get that the string of pearls were in
> the same orbit as each other and that the orbit was due to intersect with
> Jupiter. But I'd never really thought before about these impacts
> unfolding from, I think, July 16 - 22, 1994, and assume that by this
> point, for all intents and purposes, SL9 was on the same piece of
> railroad track as Jupiter itself...? Many thanks,
> Dave
> www.fallingrocks.com
>
Received on Sun 11 Jan 2009 11:20:22 AM PST