Onwards to Uranus and Neptune! |
Onwards to Uranus and Neptune! |
Jan 12 2008, 09:40 PM
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#16
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Member Group: Members Posts: 813 Joined: 8-February 04 From: Arabia Terra Member No.: 12 |
As soon as MESSENGER gets to Mercury, the most poorly explored planets in the solar system will be Uranus and Neptune. Could this lead to a revival of interest in the ice giants and their retinue, in the same way that the existence of New Horizons is perhaps partly due to the Pluto stamp*?
*via Pluto Fast Flyby and later Pluto Kuiper Express |
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Feb 27 2008, 07:18 AM
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#17
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
OK.
Just to be nitpicky, wouldn't some miniscule amount of energy be imparted on the spacecraft due to the sun's rotation during a "solar dive"? I would assume this would be similar to tidal effect. In theory, there should be a (teensy) tidal bulge raised on the Sun due to the spacecraft's gravity, and the friction of this bulge on the Sun's surface relative to the rotating surface material should fling the spacecraft forward a teensy bit. [Assuming the spacecraft's approach velocity is smaller than the rotational velocity]. This is similar to the process that is making the Earth slowly fling the Moon to a higher orbit, while the Moon is slowing down Earth's rotation. (Any math whizzes out there able to calculate the amount of (de/ac)celeration of a typical sized spacecraft from the Sun's rotation field due to tidal effects?) -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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Feb 27 2008, 09:35 PM
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#18
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
Tidal effects are harder to model than your typical sophomore calculus class lets you do. I know that in some instances, natural satellites spiral in due to tidal effects and in other cases they spiral out. I guess it's a question of whether the sub-satellite point is tracking on the surface faster or slower than the rotating surface or the speed of a wave through the surface. Something passing at a few tenths of an AU from the Sun would be moving slower, so the tidal bulge could track it fairly well, whereas something speeding over Jupiter's cloudtops would outpace the bulge.
But as for integrating over the density of various layers through the depth of the Sun... sounds like a major research problem. |
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