The Solar System – Belts, Tails, Showers – Part 1

Discussion in 'Education & Personal Growth' started by kkrish, Apr 1, 2019.

  1. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    If we could hop on a hovercraft and fly up above our North Pole, climb higher and higher, at one point, looking down at our Solar System, this is what we will see.

    nasa.jpg
    Picture courtesy: NASA

    A ring system between Mars and Jupiter, separating the four smaller, inner, terrestrial planets from the huge, gas giants.

    This is the Asteroid Belt.

    Let’s look at the Asteroid belt

    The Asteroid belt is a large doughnut shaped area between Mars and Jupiter where millions of rocky bodies, known as asteroids rotate.

    Asteroids are rocky remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.

    There are an estimated 1.1 and 1.9 million asteroids larger than 1 kilometer in diameter, and millions of smaller ones. The current known asteroids count is 781,692.

    Asteroids are irregularly shaped – some are almost spherical and some are elongated like potatoes; they are also pitted.

    Here is an asteroid.
    asteroid 1 - nasa.jpg
    Picture courtesy: NASA

    As they revolve around the sun, asteroids also rotate, giving the appearance of tumbling rocks, because of their irregular shapes.

    Some asteroids have small companion moons and some have two moons. More than 150 asteroids are known to have a small companion moon or moons.
    Here is an asteroid with its companion moon.

    asteroid with small moon. space.com.jpg
    Picture courtesy: space.com

    Some asteroids are binary, meaning two asteroids of roughly equal size orbiting each other. There are triple asteroid systems also.
    Here is binary system asteroid

    jpl.nasa.jpg
    Picture courtesy: jpl.nasa.gov

    Discovery

    On January 1, 1801 the first and largest asteroid Ceres was discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi. At first it was thought to be a comet. Then it was named a planet, later it was called an asteroid. Now it is classified as a dwarf planet.

    Despite the large number of asteroids in the asteroid belt, if we were to sweep all of them together, the total mass would be much less than Earth’s moon.

    Classification

    Asteroids are classified broadly into three types:
    • The “C” –Chondrite asteroids – These asteroids are mainly clay and silicate and are dark in appearance.
    • The “S” – Stony – made up of silicate and nickel-iron
    • The “M” – Metallic – made up of nickel-iron.
    Jupiter’s extremely strong gravity countered by Mars’ gravity, though relatively weak, sometimes can dislodge an asteroid from its orbit. They can fly in all directions and some can hit Earth also.

    In the past many such asteroids that have impacted Earth have played a major role in the evolution of life.

    Every day, Earth is bombarded with more than 100 tons of dust and sand-sized particles.

    About once a year, an automobile-sized asteroid hits Earth's atmosphere, creates an impressive fireball, and burns up before reaching the surface.

    Every 2,000 years or so, a meteoroid the size of a football field hits Earth and causes significant damage to the area.

    Only once every few million years, an object large enough to threaten Earth's civilization comes along. Impact craters on Earth, the moon and other planetary bodies are evidence of these occurrences.

    Naming Asteroids.
    Asteroids are named by the International Astronomical Union's Committee on Small Body Nomenclature. While other IAU naming committees are pretty strict when it comes to naming extra-terrestrial bodies, this committee has been a little less strict.

    So we have some space rocks named for Mr. Spock (a cat named for the character of "Star Trek" fame), rock musician Frank Zappa, beloved teachers such as Florida’s Cynthia L. Reyes. Some names are also tributes such as the seven asteroids named for the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia killed in 2003. Some asteroids are given numbers.

    Trojans:

    Trojans are asteroids that share the orbit with a larger planet. However, they do not collide with the planet because these asteroids gather around two special places in the orbit. At his place the gravity of the Sun and the gravity of the larger planet are balanced thus keeping the “Trojan” from flying out of orbit. These two places are called the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points.

    Jupiter’s Trojans are the largest population. One of the two sets is also named as “Greeks” after the Trojan war when Greeks and Trojans battled.

    Here is the location of Jupiter Trojans

    trojans. nasa .png
    Picture courtesy: NASA

    Mars and Neptune also have their Trojans. Earth’s Trojan was discovered in 2011.

    Hildas: They are a group of about 4000 asteroids located around Jupiter.

    Each asteroid has its own elliptical orbit around the Sun, but when viewed as a whole the entire group appears to orbit around the Sun in a Triangular field. This is a result of their 3:2 orbital resonance with Jupiter. It means that each Hilda orbits around the Sun three times for every two orbits Jupiter makes around the Sun.



    Near-Earth Asteroids: These objects have orbits that pass close by that of Earth. Asteroids that actually cross Earth's orbital path are known as Earth-crossers. As of June 19, 2013, 10,003 near-Earth asteroids are known and the number over 1 kilometer in diameter is thought to be 861, with 1,409 classified as potentially hazardous asteroids - those that could pose a threat to Earth.

    Crossing the Asteroid Belt

    Before Pioneer 10, scientists weren't sure if a spacecraft could survive the journey through the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. The accomplishment was one of many firsts for this mission that lived up to its name.
     
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  2. GeetaKashyap

    GeetaKashyap IL Hall of Fame

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    Nice article, kkrish.
    Since the gravity of my head is weak some of the information got deflected. No issues, I will read again and again till I integrate it fully.:grinning:
     
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  3. Venkat20

    Venkat20 Gold IL'ite

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  4. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Hahaha! :roflmao:
    You lightheaded?! :)

    Please do ask if you want more information or clarification. I will be happy to oblige.

    Thank you very much for your first like and first response.
     
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  5. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Thank you @Venkat20 .

    I can safely say that if you are wearing a gold ring or chain you are wearing a piece of asteroid.

    Earth and the Asteroids, both have similar mineral compositions.
    When the Earth was forming, it pulled in all the heavy minerals to deep down towards the center. This left the upper crust bare and devoid of all minerals.
    Earth was bombarded with a tremendous of asteroids in the early days of the solar system formation.
    These asteroid impacts provided the Earth with huge deposits of gold, silver, iron, and the other minerals that were/are easily accessible.

    If the asteroids had not impacted Earth we may never have known Gold, or Silver, ... it would have been a very different Earth today. We may not be having greedy humans also :). We may not exist too.

    At present there is a lot of interest in Asteroid mining. Some Asteroids are rich in minerals such as gold, iridium, silver, palladium, cobalt, manganese,aluminum, to name a few. These minerals can be taken back to Earth or can be used for construction in space. However, this effort will cost a lot of money. Therefore still a possibility in the future.

    Hope my response has helped answer your question. If not please let me know.



     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2019
  6. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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  7. Venkat20

    Venkat20 Gold IL'ite

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    Thanks for your details..

    consider this question as lay man ??
    Why don't we try to avail those minerals to Earth, If it could be possible we can preserve Earth, will it be ...
     
  8. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Hi @Venkat20
    I am repeating my earlier words here:
    JAXA's (Japan's Space Agency) Hayabusa mission made history in 2010, bringing back to Earth the first samples ever collected on an asteroid. The cost was about US $270 Million for about 10 gms of sample.

    That said, as I mentioned before, the possibility still exists. More research will be done on how best to tap this resource.
     
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  9. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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  10. Venkat20

    Venkat20 Gold IL'ite

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    I remember when Chandrayaan launch in Mars ISRO said the cost of this is cheaper than the Auto fair. so compare the cost with ISRO
    View me as Layman :rolleye:
     
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