What would happen if meteors hit adjacent planets?

bs2taa · Jan 24, 2005

I would have had a more in-depth and discriptive subject title but I was only able to type so much. "What would happen if giant meteorites were to hit planets in our solar system?" For example, what if a meteor the size of Australia struck a planet like venus or mars? Would it throw off our solar systems orbit and cause us all to drift into the sun? Would this even be possible seeing as the meteor would have to fight the sun's gravity? Also, Have telescopes ever witnessed a meteor strike a gaseous planet such as jupiter? I know I've had all these questions related to jupiter and it's gaseous properties, but I'm really interested in this. If a telescope were to watch a meteor strike jupiter, wouldn't they be able to watch it come from the other side? This would determine if it did in fact have a core. But then again, it may confuse scientists even more, what if Jupiter has no core but the meteor remains at the center of the planet because of such high gravity? if there have always been meteors striking Jupiter, then after the billions of years they have been occuring, isn't it possible that they could have formed a core? Just from the wreckage of thousands, if not millions of meteor strikes? Man, there are so many quetions I could ask. Space is really amazing isn't it?

spacechump · Jan 24, 2005

Objects unlucky enough to impact one of the gas giants would be vaporized into its constituent parts...in other words there would be nothing even solid left even if that object was the size of earth, mars and venus put together. You have to get a feel for how large these gas giants are!

mooware · Jan 24, 2005

Also, Have telescopes ever witnessed a meteor strike a gaseous planet such as jupiter" Shoemaker Levy hit Jupiter and telescopes were trained on on the collision.

odysseus145 · Jan 24, 2005

Here is the impact site. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

vogon13 · Jan 24, 2005

Don't recall for sure but do know Voyager spacecraft saw lightning on dark side of Jupiter, and I seem to recall meteor(s) were seen burning up in Jovian atmosphere. Your not feelin' what I'm feelin', when I'm feelin' you... C/W lyric <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!So many people, so few recipes !!Let's clean up this stinkhole !! </div>

vogon13 · Jan 24, 2005

Small scale experiment already has been conducted. Look at Mimas and Tethys, enormous craters on leading hemispheres and satellites still plugging along. Granted, we are not seeing putative satellite that experienced this and spiraled into Saturn long ago, but spiraling in past Mimas should have zorched Mimas' orbit and I don't think we see evidence of that today. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!So many people, so few recipes !!Let's clean up this stinkhole !! </div>

bs2taa · Jan 24, 2005

Oddy (I have a friend online named odysseus, I call him oddy, you mind?), that looks like a crater, how is that possible if the surface is made up of gas? And also, it really is hard to think of how gigantic they are, it's really insane, and I'm surprised that we can't see them from earth. Man, how is it that something of that size can be vaporized? Does Jupiter's size cause stronger affects towards objects entering it's atmosphere?

claywoman · Jan 24, 2005

I found a site that may explain what everyone is talking about here. It discusses what would happen to earth also if a large meteor should hit it...BTW...the one that hit Jupiter? Left a hole in the atmosphere as big as the earth...now look at Jupiter's size and you can see it wouldn't do much damage... http://www.ibiblio.org/ais/topic.htm

spacechump · Jan 25, 2005

And also, it really is hard to think of how gigantic they are, it's really insane, and I'm surprised that we can't see them from earth. We CAN see Jupiter and Saturn. They may be points of light to the naked eye but we can see them.

Saiph · Jan 25, 2005

1) All strikes on planets affect only the planet struck. So a meteor hitting mars doesn't do anything to earth or the other planets. 2) It's possible that a strike against a planet can significantly alter it's orbit (even smaller impacts do change it, but so does my jumping up and down, it's a matter of significance). However, there really isn't anything left in the solar system big enough, fast enough, and heading towards any planets to cause such a change. 3) Yes, we've seen a comet impact jupiter and leave earth sized "impacts" in the cloud decks...huge atmospheric blemishes that lasted for quite some time. 4) No, we couldn't see the impact through the planet. We may be able to notice the effects, in methods akin to seismology. An impact on the far side will shake the near side. But we can't see it. 5) Impactors of a gas giant are almost certainly burned up into dust or finer upon entering the atmosphere, and traveling through it for a ways. 6) Personally, I'd be suprised if there wasn't a solid core (even if it wasn't very big) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> --------------------SaiphMOD@gmail.com -------------------"This is my Timey Wimey Detector. Goes "bing" when there's stuff. It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually. I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

Leovinus · Jan 25, 2005

In Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan, we learned that Ceti Alpha V exploded and that disturbed Ceti Alpha IV's orbit so that it became Ceti Alpha V. I never understood that logic. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

CalliArcale · Jan 26, 2005

<blockquote>In reply to:<hr />3) Yes, we've seen a comet impact jupiter and leave earth sized "impacts" in the cloud decks...huge atmospheric blemishes that lasted for quite some time. <hr /></blockquote> And I saw it with my own eyes! My dad has an 8" Schmidtt-Cassegrain. It turns Jupiter into a descent sized disk. The impact sites were definitely visible at that magnification. I did not observe the actual impact event; we saw it after the impact sites had rotated around to the dayside. I don't recall whether we observed it immediately after, or days after. It's been too long. But it left a big impression on me, especially after watching "2010". <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

Saiph · Jan 26, 2005

hey, anybody want to dig up an image? My monitor here's pretty bad, so I can't ever be sure of the contrast to find a good image. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> --------------------SaiphMOD@gmail.com -------------------"This is my Timey Wimey Detector. Goes "bing" when there's stuff. It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually. I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

the_masked_squiggy · Feb 2, 2005

there's one earlier on this page...10 posts up?

nexium · Feb 2, 2005

We have data on small and mediun size meteor strikes of Earth, and 23 medium size hits of Jupiter, all in the same day. We think we know what happens when very large and/or very fast meteors hit planets, but we could be wrong. Very fast and almost as much mass as the planet likely throws pieces, mostly small, and fast which would light up the night sky of near by planets with shooting stars. Thousands of pieces might reach the ground, and a few people die, but a major disaster seems unlikely. Neil

nexium · Feb 2, 2005

If the core of a planet is hot enough, all of the elements and compounds will be licquid or gas or plasma. Likely most planets and large moons are 932 degrees f = 500 degrees c or hotter at the center due to decay of radioactive isotopes. If an impactor was large enough to reach the center, all or most of the impactor would be vaporised due to kinetic energy being converted to heat. An exception is a compact star colliding with a planet would likely pass clear though, and keep going. The planet might be heated sufficiently that the result would be essentually an explosion. Even in this extreme case most of the debris would be close to the original orbit of the planet. With rare exceptions the orbit changes by less than 1% due to a collision, and the new orbit produces trivial change in the other orbits of the solar system. The nine planets and about that many moons are bigger than Austrailia. Something that large (or that massive) may come from outside our solar system, but we have no good evidence of this ever happening, but it is logical that it has and will. A collision however with anything Austrailia size is very unlikely as even Jupiter is tiny compared to the spacing between the planets. Neil

meteo · Feb 2, 2005

Your Inputs: Distance from Impact: 8000.00 km = 4968.00 miles Projectile Diameter: 3218680.00 m = 10557270.40 ft = 1998.80 miles Projectile Density: 3000 kg/m3 Impact Velocity: 17.00 km/s = 10.56 miles/s Impact Angle: 45 degrees Target Density: 2750 kg/m3 Target Type: Crystalline Rock Energy: Energy before atmospheric entry: 7.57 x 1030 Joules = 1.81 x 1015 MegaTons TNT The average interval between impacts of this size is longer than the Earth's age. Such impacts could only occur during the accumulation of the Earth, between 4.5 and 4 billion years ago. Major Global Changes: The Earth is not strongly disturbed by the impact and loses negligible mass. 4.33 percent of the Earth is melted The impact does not make a noticeable change in the Earth's rotation period or the tilt of its axis. The impact does not shift the Earth's orbit noticeably. Crater Dimensions: What does this mean? Transient Crater Diameter: 5580 km = 3470 miles Transient Crater Depth: 1970 km = 1230 miles Final Crater Diameter: 17200 km = 10700 miles Final Crater Depth: 5.58 km = 3.46 miles The final crater is replaced by a large, circular melt province. The volume of the target melted or vaporized is 4.76e+10 km3 = 1.14e+10 miles3 Melt volume = 2.09 times the crater volume At this size, the crater forms in its own melt pool. Thermal Radiation: What does this mean? Time for maximum radiation: 2310 seconds after impact Your position is inside the fireball. The fireball appears 991 times larger than the sun Thermal Exposure: 4.84 x 1012 Joules/m2 Duration of Irradiation: 51000 seconds Radiant flux (relative to the sun): 94900

newtron · Feb 2, 2005

First off I am indeed new here at space.com forums, second being right out of high school and not much knowledge on astrological issues all I can do is speculate and theorize, however there are a few things I believe. If a meteor of large (By human terms) proportions were to enter the atmosphere of a gaseous planet persay, I would believe that aside from leaving a large hole in the atmospher that it would also add somewhat to the density of the planet. I'm not familiar enough with the chemicals of Jupiter so I am under the assumption that they are somewhat corrosive, this adds moreover to the breakdown of said meteor. If the object were to survive the entering of the atmosphere and not be corroded by any chemicals then that leaves whatever mystery awaits it at the center or area surrounding the center of the planet (jupiter). Any sort of changes to planet? I don't know, I would assume not. Anyhoo thats just what this college bound boy believes (errr thinks).

newtonian · Feb 2, 2005

BS2TAA - Meteors have, of course, hit adjacent planets. Recently some meteorites found on earth have been identified as coming from Mars. There is a famous one that has been postulated to contain signs of microscopic martian life - debatable to say the least. But the point is that these meteorites which have reached earth are the result of much larger martian impacts. And they have taken a very long time to reach earth usually.

Saiph · Feb 3, 2005

1) It's astronomical not astrological. Careful with that, cause there's a big difference between the fields, and both sides can be insulted by the wrong use. Astronomical is the science we know as astronomy. Astrological deals with horoscopes and signs in the stars etc... 2) It wouldn't leave a whole in the atmosphere, persay. It would leave a really, really strong distrubance though. 3) It can add to the density of a planet, if the object is more dense than the planet. It can subtract if it's less dense. How? Take an uninflated balloon, add a couple small weights into it. It should sink in water. Now, take the same thing, and add air (blow it up). You've added material, it will weigh more. but you've added a less dense substance. Now it'll float in the water, demonstrating that the object is now less dense. Regardless, it's material is added to the whole. 4) Corrosive or not, the main issue is friction. It'll literally melt and vaporize due to the heat of re-entry. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> --------------------SaiphMOD@gmail.com -------------------"This is my Timey Wimey Detector. Goes "bing" when there's stuff. It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually. I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

newtron · Feb 4, 2005

1.) Eheh, I was debating wether or not to type astrological or nomical (I should have checked a dictionary). Thanks for the correction. 2.) What I actually meant was "disturbance", I realize I shouldn't have said atmosphere so much as sky (clouds). 3.) Thank you for the explanation. This is one aspect as to why saturn (as well as other planets) have rings right? 4.) I forgot about friction for some reason, (thats a slap to the forehead).

CalliArcale · Feb 7, 2005

<blockquote>In reply to:<hr />3.) Thank you for the explanation. This is one aspect as to why saturn (as well as other planets) have rings right? <hr /></blockquote> Actually, any planet can have a ring system, regardless of density. It's just a large amount of material in really small pieces orbiting the planet. Jupiter's ring is made of dust, mostly from Io's volcanoes. Nobody knows for sure what created Saturn's ring system; it's not stable, so it's not original to the planet. It may be the remains of moons that smashed to bits, possibly due to collisions from comets or Damoclids (comet-like asteroids), or possibly just from collisions with other objects within the Saturn system, or even just two moons slamming into each other with enough force that a new moon couldn't coalesce from the bits (or hasn't been able to yet, anyway). Certainly the moons of Saturn have taken a serious beating, which supports those collision scenarios. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

What would happen if meteors hit adjacent planets?

bs2taa

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spacechump

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