3 ms·
How is this different than the Roche limit? If a big thing gets too close, as it whips through a gravity well tidal forces will pull it appart. I thought this
by sandworm101 3y ago
How is this different than the Roche limit? If a big thing gets too close, as it whips through a gravity well tidal forces will pull it appart. I thought this was a rather settled field. It happened to the shoemaker comet in 94. That was jupiter but the same thing should happen near to earth, just much nearer.
- gcanyon 3y agoThis was my first thought as well. I haven't read the article yet, maybe I'll learn... Edit to add: read the article, it sounds exactly like it's the Roche limit, applied to passing objects instead of orbiting objects.
- Animats 3y agoIt does. A fast pass through a gravitational gradient by a pile of rubble is going to rearrange the rubble a bit. What happens can be simulated, and someone did that back in 1998.[1] There are pictures of the simulation result. Objects moving fast enough don't get disrupted. "Our results indicate that this limit is well below the mean encounter speeds of long-period comets with Earth. Thus, we predict that few comets ever undergo strong tidal disruption in the terrestrial planet region." Since 1998 many more near-earth objects have been found, because more automated equipment is looking for incoming threats. Don't know about speeds. Looking back at the 1998 simulations using new data might be useful. [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103598959541 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001910359...
- s1artibartfast 3y agoThe paper has to do with Roche limits, but is not claiming to have discovered the phenomenon. The novelty is that it provides the first evidence of what earth's Roche limit might be, and a model of how earth interacts with nearby asteroids. If you
- adastra22 3y agoIf you what?
- j-pb 3y agoIt's clear from context, there's obviously a
- jazzyjackson 3y agogesundheit
- GolfPopper 3y agoHe probably got shut down by some mice. Hopefully he isn't not the late slartibartfast.
- ykonstant 3y agoWe don't question Big Comet here; those who do are taken care of.
- ahazred8ta 3y agoYes, this is the Roche limit tidal effect pulling apart loose rubble-pile asteroids and comet remnants, as opposed to intact 'solid rock' asteroids.