Rosetta flyby of Asteroid Steins, 5th September 2008 |
Rosetta flyby of Asteroid Steins, 5th September 2008 |
Sep 6 2008, 04:12 PM
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#166
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Member Group: Members Posts: 370 Joined: 12-September 05 From: France Member No.: 495 |
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Sep 6 2008, 04:33 PM
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#167
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1440 Joined: 26-July 08 Member No.: 4270 |
They don't appear to be too well lined up to be more than a chance arrangement of several unrelated craters. The lighting angle certainly helps bring them out as Juramike suggests, but I wouldn't go as far as linking the craters either. Observe enough cratered bodies and you're bound to come up with an interesting "arrangement" and this is what the human eye excels at - finding patterns everywhere. Very true indeed. And in all honesty, as has been stated before... there doesn't seem to be a good reason why there should be a crater chain on such a small body anyway. -------------------- -- Hungry4info (Sirius_Alpha)
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Sep 6 2008, 04:41 PM
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#168
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10182 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
Another factor counting against the crater chain being more than a coincidence is the difference in sharpness and regularity of shape (hence, probable age) along the chain.
Here's the first frame in the movie, with a contrast-enhanced version. Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PD: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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Sep 6 2008, 04:45 PM
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#169
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Member Group: Members Posts: 688 Joined: 20-April 05 From: Sweden Member No.: 273 |
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Sep 6 2008, 05:04 PM
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#170
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 73 Joined: 14-June 05 From: Cambridge, MA Member No.: 411 |
It reminds me of nothing as much as views of Atlas and Pan, Saturn's "flying saucer" moons:
They're embedded in the rings, though, and their shape is a result of ring material accumulation over time. That wouldn't work in the case of Steins, of course. BTW, have they determined the spin axis for Steins, yet? - John Sheff Cambridge, MA |
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Sep 6 2008, 05:28 PM
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#171
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Considering the shape of the body and the location of the large crater (hinting at an impact that *just* came short of being energetic enough to blast the entire body apart), what this looks like to me is:
1) A roughly disk-shaped object was hit broadside by an impactor. 2) The entire body stretched into the impact -- the "point" of the diamond is the deformation along the velocity vector of the impactor. 3) The shock wave crenelated the edge of the disk, causing what appears to be a crater chain along its circumference. That's what it looks like to me... -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Guest_PhilCo126_* |
Sep 6 2008, 05:45 PM
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#172
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Guests |
Great flyby...
Well, a long wait has started with this Rosetta spacecraft underway to rendezvous with comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the year 2014. That would be about the time that New Horizons would get a decent view of some of the 6 billion Kuiper Belt Objects |
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Sep 6 2008, 05:45 PM
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#173
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Member Group: Members Posts: 809 Joined: 11-March 04 Member No.: 56 |
Just where is Steins now anyway? How far away from the Sun, and in which direction?
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Sep 6 2008, 05:53 PM
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#174
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1440 Joined: 26-July 08 Member No.: 4270 |
Another factor counting against the crater chain being more than a coincidence is the difference in sharpness and regularity of shape (hence, probable age) along the chain.
The more shallow craters appear to be the ones closest to the large crater. Is it possible that the large crater on "top" modified the density of the asteroid in the area around it? This may cause regolith to fill in the craters closer to the larger crater? Perhaps? I'm trying to explore all possibilities. -------------------- -- Hungry4info (Sirius_Alpha)
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Sep 6 2008, 06:08 PM
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#175
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
Great flyby... Well, a long wait has started with this Rosetta spacecraft underway to rendezvous with comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the year 2014. That would be about the time that New Horizons would get a decent view of some of the 6 billion Kuiper Belt Objects Well, we still have the 2009 Earth Flyby to look forward to, and, more importantly, the July 2010 Lutetia flyby. With a 100 km diameter, it should be quite spectacular. -------------------- |
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Sep 6 2008, 06:11 PM
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#176
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1281 Joined: 18-December 04 From: San Diego, CA Member No.: 124 |
But you have to wait some time before it is displayed (moderation probably). Well, it must be some automatic thing, since I ended up posting twice in a row thinking that my connection dropped... -------------------- Lyford Rome
"Zis is not nuts, zis is super-nuts!" Mathematician Richard Courant on viewing an Orion test |
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Sep 6 2008, 06:30 PM
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#177
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2922 Joined: 14-February 06 From: Very close to the Pyrénées Mountains (France) Member No.: 682 |
Nice idea to put Steins close to Anne Frank, there are quite alike. Trouble will come with Lutecia's fly by! You'll have to change your scale... or do the same we can see on a representation of the Solar System : the Sun is shown only partialy. Thanks a lot anyway, this is an important piece of work -------------------- |
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Sep 6 2008, 06:37 PM
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#178
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1440 Joined: 26-July 08 Member No.: 4270 |
Trouble will come with Lutecia's fly by! You'll have to change your scale... or do the same we can see on a representation of the Solar System : the Sun is shown only partialy. Thanks a lot anyway, this is an important piece of work Also a problem when Dawn visits Vesta, then again when it visits Ceres. -------------------- -- Hungry4info (Sirius_Alpha)
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Sep 6 2008, 06:50 PM
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#179
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Member Group: Members Posts: 809 Joined: 11-March 04 Member No.: 56 |
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Sep 6 2008, 07:19 PM
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#180
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2173 Joined: 28-December 04 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 132 |
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