Question about Jupiter

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Don't know why, but I was thinking about the asteriod that hit Jupiter the other day. Maybe one of you guys can answer a really dumb question for me. Jupiter is a mass of gas, right? What happened to the asteroid? I'm guessing that the atmosphere just created enough heat that it melted away, but an with an object that big, I don't know. What is the right answer?

[James Jaragosky]

Don't know why, but I was thinking about the asteriod that hit Jupiter the other day. Maybe one of you guys can answer a really dumb question for me. Jupiter is a mass of gas, right? What happened to the asteroid? I'm guessing that the atmosphere just created enough heat that it melted away, but an with an object that big, I don't know. What is the right answer?

I am by no means a expert on the subject. In fact I don't even qualify as a amateur.
But my understanding is even gas compressed enough, can have enough surface resistance to feel solid; like compressed air, in a cylinder. Only the gas is compressed by junipers massive gravity.
Anyhow that is my shoot from the hip totally untrained and un-researched explanation.
Jim J.

[Neal Clayton]

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT...

oh wait that's only in a movie ;).

[Craig Coney]

Don't know why, but I was thinking about the asteriod that hit Jupiter the other day. Maybe one of you guys can answer a really dumb question for me. Jupiter is a mass of gas, right? What happened to the asteroid? I'm guessing that the atmosphere just created enough heat that it melted away, but an with an object that big, I don't know. What is the right answer?

So when the asteroid collided with Jupiter, does that mean that Jupiter passed gas? :D

[Caspar Hauser]

If I remember Dr Asimov correctly Jupiter has a larger mass than all the other planets added together, creating tremendous pressure at its core. At sufficient pressure Hydrogen (the most common element) becomes a metal and this is what is at the centre of Jupiter.

Hmm..Metallic Hydrogen I wonder what kind of edge would it take...

CH

Unless 1:4:9....it's full of Stars.. :)

[Jerome Hanby]

Actually, hydrogen is always a metal, just usually not solid. Hard to tell without making the trip, but there almost has to be some kind of rocky core. Jupiter has a huge gravity well and any space debris that it's collected would have significant amounts of iridium and that's going to sink in the long run. Could be a big hydrogen ice ball covered with grit... sort of like dropping the ice cream off your cone while at the beach.

[Dennis Thornton]

My understanding is there is no real "surface". It starts as gas and just becomes denser and denser the further down you go.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Interesting, and funny stuff guys! Thanks!

[Kevin Hartnett]

Jupiter's atmosphere is thousands and thousands of miles thick and very dense. Any space object, i.e. meteor, comet, asteroid, man-made satellite, will be travelling VERY fast and as soon as it hits Jupiter's outer atmosphere will burn up and most likely break into smaller pieces that will also burn up. It's very unlikely anything of any significant size will actually reach Jupiter's core, which is thought to be made of solid hydrogen with some heavier elements mixed in.

Just my 2c worth.

Kevin H.

[Jeff Bratt]

Really doesn't matter if there is a core down there or not. When an interplanetary object encounters a planet's atmosphere, the relative motion is really fast. This means that when the object plows into the atmosphere, the atmospheric gas gets highly compressed, and this generates lots and lots of heat. Smaller objects will burn up. Larger objects will explode. Only really large objects will make it to the surface - if there is a surface - to form an impact crater. What is seen on Jupiter from the recent collision is a lot of debris from the explosion of an object (estimated to be several hundred meters across) spread throughout the clouds in Jupiter's atmosphere in a specific location - which happens to be larger than the Earth.

Links with more info:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2009/23/full/
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/07/23/jupiter-bringing-the-hammer-down/

[Brian Ashton]

If I remember Dr Asimov correctly Jupiter has a larger mass than all the other planets added together, creating tremendous pressure at its core. At sufficient pressure Hydrogen (the most common element) becomes a metal and this is what is at the centre of Jupiter.

Hmm..Metallic Hydrogen I wonder what kind of edge would it take...

CH

Unless 1:4:9....it's full of Stars.. :)


Considering that H is the smallest atom and thousands of times smaller than a typical blade molecule... that would mean the edge could be honed to quite a fine edge. Whether or not it would be wear resistant is another question entirely.

Given the right catalyst I wonder how explosive metallic H would be. Now that could be fun - exploding planes.

[Eric Larsen]

If I were to jump off a 150' bridge, hitting the water would basically be like hitting concrete. That's why people jump off bridges. It works.

Same thing with gas. Hit it with enough force, and gas will get the job done. (Like a space capsule re-entering the atmosphere. Miss the angle by more than a few degrees and it's a charcoal briquette.)

Those comet fragments were traveling with the 5x the velocity of a bullet. Doesn't really matter WHAT they slammed into. At that velocity, with that kind of inertia, BOOM!