Title: Chapter 14: Solar System Debris Asteroids, Comets, and Meteorites
1Chapter 14 Solar System DebrisAsteroids,
Comets, and Meteorites
2Solar System Debris
- Debris
- (1) scattered remains of something
broken or destroyed - (2) accumulation of fragments of rock.
- Solar system
- 1 large object
- Sun
- several medium-sized objects
- planets and moons
- lots of debris
- asteroids, meteoroids, comets, dust
3What is this debris?
- The classification of is a matter of minor
controversy. - Traditionally, the solar system has been divided
into - planets (the big bodies orbiting the Sun),
- their satellites (variously sized objects
orbiting planets), - asteroids (small dense objects orbiting the Sun)
and - comets (small icy objects with highly eccentric
orbits). - Unfortunately, the solar system has been found to
be more complicated than this would suggest - there are several small moons that are probably
captured asteroids - comets sometimes fizzle out and become
indistinguishable from asteroids - the Kuiper Belt objects and others like Chiron
don't fit this scheme well - Pluto/Charon system sometimes considered "double
planet and like Kupier Belt objects.
4How much debris is out there and where is it?
- Most asteroids have been found orbiting the Sun
between Mars and Jupiter, but they also share
orbits with planets and cross into the inner
solar system. - Mass of all known asteroids
- Most comets have been found to orbit the Sun in
two regions beyond the orbit of Neptune. - Kupier Belt, 30-100 AU, never inside orbits of
jovian planets - Oort cloud, up to 50,000 AU from Sun
- Mass of all comets probably comparable to mass of
terrestrial planets.
5Why Debris is Important?
- Early history of life on Earth pieced together
from fossil record. - To study early history of solar system, need
cosmic fossils - materials that have remained
relatively unchanged since the solar system was
very young. - planets melted, battered by impacts,
tectonically active, and altered - Look to smaller objects, asteroids,
and comets for clues.
6Asteroids
- Asteroids are believed to be left over from the
beginning of the solar system 4.6 billion years
ago.
7Asteroids
- Rocky and metallic objects too small to be
considered planets. - Range in size from Ceres (diameter of 1000 km),
down
to objects a few centimeters or less across. - Name asteroids, meaning "star-like", derives from
the fact that they are more star-like in
appearance than comets.
8Asteroids Discovery
- Too small be seen without a telescope.
- Ceres, largest of asteroids, orbiting Sun at 2.8
AU was discovered first by Giovanni Piazzi in
1801. - He was searching for the missing planet predicted
to be between Mars and Jupiter by Titius-Bode
law. - In next 6 years, three more objects found in
region. - Currently, more that 10,000 asteroids have
well-determined orbits. - Each given a number for order of discovery a
name. - Most orbits lie between those of Mars and Jupiter
9Asteroids Formation
- Believed to represent material left over from
formation
of solar system. - Although sometimes suggested that asteroids are
remains of a planet that was destroyed in a
massive collision, it is more likely that they
represent material that never coalesced into a
planet.
- Highest concentration of asteroids in asteroid
belt, the region lying between
orbits of Mars and Jupiter. - Likely that origin of the asteroid belt is linked
to gravitational perturbation by Jupiter,
which kept these planetisimals from coalescing
into larger bodies.
10Asteroids Classification
- Asteroids are classified into types according to
their - spectra
- (and hence their chemical composition)
- and
- albedo.
11Asteroids Classes Compared
- S-type
- Appear bright (reflectivity 15-20)
- Predominately silicate materials
- C-type (e.g., Ceres and Pallas)
- Appear very dark (reflectivity 3-4)
- Carbonrich silicate materials
- composition thought to be similar to the Sun,
depleted in hydrogen, helium, and
other volatiles. - M-type (e.g., Psyche)
- Relatively bright (reflectivity 10-18)
- Metals like iron and nickel
- Rare
12Vesta An Unusual Asteroid
- HST resolves features as small as 50 miles
across, allowing astronomers to map Vesta's
geologically diverse terrain. - The surface is a complex record of Vesta's four
billion-year history. - Features include ancient lava flows, and a
gigantic impact basin that is so deep, it exposes
the asteroid's subsurface, or mantle.
13Asteroids Abundance Location
- Not all classes of asteroids are equally abundant
and different classes of
asteroids found at different distances from Sun. - 17 S-type dominate inner belt region
- 75 C-type dominate outer belt region
- 8 other types found in middle belt region
14Known Asteroids
15Asteroids Orbits about the Sun
- Asteroids orbit the Sun in many regions at
different distances. - They are often grouped by characteristics of
their orbits. - Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter
- Trojan asteroids co-orbital with Jupiter
- Apollo and Aten asteroids Earth-crossing
asteroids - Amor asteroids Mars-crossing asteroids
- Other asteroids
16The Asteroid Belt
- All orbit Sun in west-to-east direction (same
as planets). - Most orbits lie near plane of ecliptic.
- The asteroid belt defined as region containing
asteroids with semi-major axes in the range of
2.2-3.3 AU. - Asteroids in belt take 3.3-6 years to orbit Sun.
- Contains 75 of known asteroids.
- Spacing of asteroids in belt several million
km. - Many classified into families - groups with
similar orbital and physical characteristics .
17Asteroids Size and Location
- 100,000 asteroids lie in the asteroid belt.
- Asteroids differ from planets in both their
orbits and their size. - generally move on quite eccentric trajectories,
- few are 300 km in diameter, and most are far
smaller (as small as 1/10 km across). - Taken together, mass of known asteroids amounts
to
18Asteroids View from Space
- Galileo flew by main-belt asteroids.
- Gaspra
- S-type
- 7 hour rotation period
- 16 x 11 x 10 km, irregular shape
- sparse crater count implies 200 million years old
- Ida
- larger S-type
- more heavily cratered, 1 billion years
old - satellite, Dactyl, 1.5 km diameter
- period 24 hours
- orbital distance 100 km
- Idas density 2.5 g/cm3
19Phobos
- Mars Global Surveyor images of Phobos
20Asteroids Orbital Characteristics
- The Asteroid Belt
- Most asteroids orbit in a zone between the orbits
of Mars and Jupiter called the Asteroid Belt
- Ranges 2 - 3.5 A.U. from the Sun.
- About 5,000 orbits have been calculated,
but 100,000 asteroids may exist. - Orbits are elliptical but nearly circular and
near the plane of the ecliptic. - Their orbits are very similar to the planets'
orbits. - The Kirkwood gaps are found in the orbits of belt
asteroids and are formed by Jupiter's strong
gravitational influence.
21Orbits of other Asteroids
22Asteroids Orbital Characteristics
- Trojan Asteroids
- Found in the same orbit with Jupiter,
but are 60o ahead
and behind the planet. - They are stable positions in Jupiter's orbit
where the gravity of the Sun and Jupiter cancel.
- Such positions called Lagrange points.
- Apollo Asteroids
- Orbits cross Earth's orbit.
- About 50 known Apollo asteroids,
but may be
as many as 1,000. - All potential "Earth-colliders".
- Eros is an example. It is about 30 kilometers
across.
23Asteroids Orbital Characteristics
- Other asteroid groups
- A few stray asteroids have been found that lie
completely outside of the asteroid belt. - Chiron is the most famous example.
- Its orbit carries it between Saturn and Uranus.
- Chiron may actually be a dormant comet that has
lost most of its volatiles. - When it is closest to the Sun, a very diffuse
atmosphere forms around it. - If Chiron is a comet, it is the largest one known
with a diameter of about 180 kilometers.
24Chiron
- Chiron is unusual
- has a detectable coma, indicating that it is a
cometary body, - over 50,000 times the characteristic volume of a
comet, a
size more commensurate with a large asteroid - its curious orbit is unstable on time scales of a
million years, indicating that it hasn't been in
its present orbit long.
Mt. Wilson Observatory - California02 April
1995Charles Morris, TIE telescope
25Centaurs
- Chiron was the first of four bodies discovered so
far with similar orbits and properties. - These bodies have been designated Centaurs,
after the race of
half-man/half-horse beings from Greek mythology,
in recognition of their dual comet/asteroid
nature. - It is believed that the Centaurs may be objects
which have escaped from the Kuiper belt.
26Kirkwood Gaps
- Distribution of asteroid semi-major axes shows
some prominent gaps caused by resonances with
Jupiter's orbital motion. These are known as the
Kirkwood Gaps . - Asteroid in resonance with Jupiter receives a
strong gravitational tug from planet each time
they are close together. If asteroid's period is
in a well-defined ratio with that of Jupiters,
the effects reinforce each other.
27Near-Earth and Trojan Asteroids
28Trojan Asteroids
- Although most asteroids orbit in the main belt,
2-3 A.U. from the Sun, an
additional class of asteroids orbit at the
distance of Jupiter and are called the Trojan
asteroids. - Trojan asteroids are locked into a 11 orbital
resonance with Jupiter. - Several hundred such asteroids are now known
it is estimated that there may be a thousand or
more altogether.
29Trojan Asteriods Lagrange Points
- There are exactly five places in the solar system
where a small body can orbit the Sun in synchrony
with Jupiter. These places are known as the
Lagrange points of Jupiter's orbit. - All five Lagrange points revolve around the Sun
at the same rate as Jupiter.
30Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs)
- NEAs are asteroids that closely approach the
Earth. - Most are small, diameter
- Three groups
- Atens semi-major axes distance 0.983 AU
- Apollossemi-major axes 1.0 AU perihelion
distance - Amors perihelion distances between 1.017 and 1.3
AU and only cross Mars orbit
31Earth-Crossing Asteroids
- Certain groups of asteroids have elliptical
orbits that cross the orbit of Earth and other
inner planets. - About 300 asteroids are known to cross Earth's
orbit. - However, about 1500 unknown NEOs are estimated
to exist. - The good news is that none of the known asteroids
will strike the Earth. - The bad news is that we have discovered only a
fraction of the total number of Earth-crossing
asteroids, so there are many for which we do not
know the orbit.
Animation of Aten asteriod
32Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous
- NEAR spacecraft launched in 1996.
- Goals
- fly by Mathilde, C-type in main belt
- gravity measurements yield density of 1.6
g/cm3 - match orbit with Eros, a C-type asteroid and
largest of Earth-approaching asteroids - map surface
- determine surface composition and density
33Close to EarthBinary Asteroids
- Binary asteroids -- two rocky
objects orbiting about one another
appear to be common in
Earth-crossing orbits. If one is ever found
headed our way, it could be double trouble. - http//www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2002/release_2002
_83.html - Another near miss.
- http//www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2002/release_2002
_79.html
34Falling Stars
35Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites
- Meteoroids are simply smaller versions of
asteroids. - may be chunks that have been broken off asteroids
by impacts. - Meteors are streaks of light across the sky
caused by a meteoroid entering the Earth's upper
atmosphere and burning up in the process. - Sometimes called "shooting" or "falling stars".
- Typically, 5 or 6 meteors are visible per hour
across the sky (sporadic meteors). - Sometimes a portion of a large meteoroid may
survive its passage through the atmosphere and
reach the Earth's surface. This rock is called a
meteorite. - Meteorites provided astronomers with the first
good estimate of the age of the Solar System.
Radiometric dating of meteorites gives them an
age of about 4.5 billion years.
36Meteorites
- Meteorites are bits of the solar system that have
fallen to the Earth. - most come from asteroids, including few are
believed to have come specifically from Vesta - a few probably come from comets
- a small number of meteorites have been shown to
be of lunar (23 finds) or Martian origin (22).
37Types of Meteorites
- Iron
- Primarily iron and nickel similar to type M
asteroids - Stony Iron
- Mixtures of iron and stony material like type S
asteroids - Chondrite
- by far the largest number of meteorites fall into
this class - similar in composition to the mantles and crusts
of the terrestrial planets - Carbonaceous Chondrite
- similar to type C asteroids
- Achondrite
- similar to terrestrial basalts the meteorites
believed to have originated on the Moon and Mars
are achondrites
38Martian Meteor
39Meteor Showers
- At certain times of the year, many more meteors
are observed to be radiating from a particular
point in space. - These so-called meteor showers are now known to
be associated with comet orbits. - When the Earth crosses the "dusty" trail of a
comet, many more meteors per hour can be
observed. - There are several major meteor showers each year.
40Comet Debris
41Meteor Shower Radiant
42 43Literature and Astronomy
- Meteor showers can be very impressive. Samuel
Taylor Coleridge's famous lines from The Rime of
the Ancient Mariner may have been inspired by the
Leonid meteor shower that he witnessed in 1797. - The upper air burst into life! And a
hundred fire-flags sheen, To and fro they
were hurried about! And to and fro, and in and
out, The wan stars danced between. - And the coming wind did roar more loud, And
the sails did sigh like sedge And the rain
poured down from one black cloud The Moon was at
its edge .
44Meteorite Hunting
45Impact Sites
46Antarctica
47Meteor Craters
Barringer Crater
Chicxulub Crater
48The End?
49Predicted Annual Number of Meteorite Falls
50Educated guesses about consequences of impacts of
various sizesfrom 'The Impact Hazard', by
Morrison, Chapman and Slovic,
published in Hazards due to Comets and Asteroids
51Impact Energies
- Kinetic Energy 1/2 mv2
- m ?V
- 1 megaton 4 x 1016 joules
52Comets
- Comets small bodies made out of dust and ices
("dirty snowballs"). - The term "comet" derives from the Greek aster
kometes, which means "long-haired star"---a
reference to the tail. - Since the observations of Tycho Brahe, comets are
known to be members of the Solar System well
beyond Earth's atmosphere. - Most are on long elliptical orbits (perhaps
parabolic in some cases) that take them from the
outer reaches of the Solar System to the vicinity
of the Sun. - When they come near the Sun they are heated and
emit gases and dust that are swept by the Solar
Wind into the characteristic tail that always
points away from the Sun.
53Comets
- Dirty snowballs
- Long term comets
- most in Oort cloud (up to 50,000 AU from Sun)
- normally orbit far from the Sun, very few enter
planetary region of solar system - highly elongated orbits
- not confined to ecliptic, all orbital
inclinations - prograde and retrograde orbits
- roughly uniform distribution
- Short term comets (periods
- most originate in region beyond Neptune called
Kupier belt - approximately circular, prograde orbits 30-100
AU - normally orbit outside jovian planets,
occasionally kicked into inner solar system
54Parts of a Comet
- Comets have several distinct parts when near the
Sun and active - nucleus
- relatively solid and stable, mostly ice and gas
with a small amount of dust and other solids - coma
- dense cloud of water, carbon dioxide and other
neutral gases sublimed from the nucleus - hydrogen cloud
- huge (millions of km in diameter) but very sparse
envelope of neutral hydrogen - dust tail
- up to 10 million km long composed of smoke-sized
dust particles driven off the nucleus by escaping
gases - most prominent part of a comet to the unaided eye
- ion tail
- as much as several hundred million km long
- composed of plasma laced with rays and streamers
caused by interactions with the solar wind.
55Comet Tails
- Tails of bright comets can be 150 million
kilometers (1 AU) in length, making them the
"largest" objects in the Solar System. - Many comets have two tails
- gas tail (or ion tail) composed of ions blown
out of the comet away from the Sun by the solar
wind, and - dust tail composed of dust particles liberated
from the nucleus as the ices are vaporized.
56Comet Orbits
- Comets interact gravitationally with the Sun and
other objects. - Their motion is also influenced to some degree by
gases jetting out of them, so their orbits are
not completely determined by gravity. - Most comets orbits appear to be elliptical, or
in some cases parabolic. - The most common comets are called short-period
comets that have only mildly elliptical orbits
that carry them out to a region lying from
Jupiter to beyond the orbit of Neptune. These
are normally seen only with telescopes. - Comets visible to the naked eye are rare and are
thought to come from a great spherical cloud of
cometary material surrounding the Solar System
called the Oort Cloud.
57Comet Halley
- English astronomer Edmund Halley used Newton's
new theory of gravitation to determine the orbits
of comets from their recorded positions in the
sky as a function of time. - He found that the bright comets of 1531, 1607,
and 1682 had the same orbits, and concluded that
these were different appearances of the same
comet. - He used his calculations to predict the return of
this comet in 1758. - If one traces back in the historical records for
recordings of bright comets and their positions
in the sky, it can be concluded that Comet Halley
has been observed periodically as far back as 240
B.C.
Halley in 1910
Halley in 1986
58Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
- In July of 1994, fragments of Comet
Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacted the planet Jupiter. The
points of impact could be observed by the Galileo
spacecraft.
59Unique?
- Crater chain on surface of Callisto
60CONTOUR
- CONTOUR - Comet Nucleus Tour
- NASA Discovery mission.
- Planned launch July 1, 2002.
- Mission to visit two comets.
- Encke (3.2 year period inside orbit of Jupiter)
- Schwassmann-Wachmann 3
- Will intersect orbits when comets are near Sun
and most active.
61Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors