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That it passes the ecliptic from that angle, that close to the sun, feels "deliberate". Like aiming for bull's eye on the solar system, from above. Iss
by mongol 9y ago
That it passes the ecliptic from that angle, that close to the sun, feels "deliberate". Like aiming for bull's eye on the solar system, from above. Iss
- mkl 9y agoIt's not deliberate, it's gravity. The sun has been pulling this object towards itself, because that's how gravity works.
- ant6n 9y agoIn space, the gravity well we more likely create big orbits. Since there's no air slowing objects down, they won't all fall down to the sun. For example, it's very energy intensive to go visit Mercury.
- mkl 9y agoRight, but that's for objects travelling more tangentially. An object travelling kind of towards the sun will get redirected more towards the sun, when the sun is the largest nearby mass. It's unlikely that an object would be pulled right into the sun though, just redirected by its close encounter so it flies off again in another direction.