The Astronomy Thread

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Cybsled

Cybsled

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Considering how large Jupiter is, that is a big explosion. I wonder how large the object was that caused that
 
Sanrith Descartes

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meStevo said:
Amateurs observed an impact on Jupiter this week.



www.space.com

Amateur astronomers spot new impact on Jupiter

This gas giant regularly absorbs hits from comets and asteroids, protecting inner solar system worlds.
www.space.com www.space.com
Click to expand...

I know Jupiter is a magnitude larger than Earth, but how does it get peppered with extinction level rocks so often and the Earth seems to avoid them. Is it proximity to the asteroid belts?
 
Captain Suave

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Sanrith Descartes said:
I know Jupiter is a magnitude larger than Earth, but how does it get peppered with extinction level rocks so often and the Earth seems to avoid them. Is it proximity to the asteroid belts?
Click to expand...

We don't get them here because they hit Jupiter instead. If our solar system didn't have Jupiter to clear out asteroids, Earth would be a very different place.

Edit: Actually this may be bullshit.

 
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Cybsled

Cybsled

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Multiple reasons

1) Jupiter is relatively close to the asteroid belt, but any things it captures are also outer solar system stuff like comets
2) Jupiter is fucking big and exerts a lot of gravity, which means it can capture various asteroids or comets within its gravitational pull
3) Planets like Jupiter are why the Earth isn’t hit more. Think of Jupiter as the bouncer at the entrance to the inner solar system. It basically takes the hits so Earth doesn’t
 
meStevo

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meStevo said:
Roscosmos reports their Luna-25 lander has crashed in the moon.

It had an anomaly yesterday that last I saw they thought they had recovered from. Guess not.

www.bbc.com

Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into Moon

The unmanned craft spun out control before its planned landing on the Moon's south pole.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com

Meanwhile India's Chandrayaan-3 is doing very well so far, landing in a few days.

Click to expand...


NASA released an image of Luna-24's crater.

1693624301904.png


abcnews.go.com

A Russian spacecraft crashed on the moon last month. NASA says it's discovered where.

NASA released images Thursday showing a 33-foot crater caused by Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashing into the surface of the moon last month.
abcnews.go.com abcnews.go.com
 
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Big Phoenix

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Cybsled said:
Considering how large Jupiter is, that is a big explosion. I wonder how large the object was that caused that
Click to expand...
Probably relatively small. Jupiter has been observed being hit by comets/asteroids qutie a few times over the years, each time producing very large fireballs like that.

en.wikipedia.org

Impact events on Jupiter - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

The real interesting thing about it is the planet sized blemishes they leave behind. Heres what SL9 did and the largest object was like 1 mile in diameter;

1693645931514.jpeg


1693646218690.png


Some other rando impact;

1693645982614.jpeg

Sanrith Descartes said:
I know Jupiter is a magnitude larger than Earth, but how does it get peppered with extinction level rocks so often and the Earth seems to avoid them. Is it proximity to the asteroid belts?
Click to expand...
Could be the result of all the material Jupiter has accumulated in its orbit. Its L4 and L5 points have thousands of objects.

en.wikipedia.org

Trojan (celestial body) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
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Burns

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Interesting. I thought that since the Moon is tidal locked, the center of gravity stayed in the same place, and wouldn't produce stress on the moon, but nope, there is still enough flux during orbit to do it, I guess. Data from the India lander is still being analyzed, but here is a brief summery of Moonquakes:

2023-09-07 16.34.51 ec.europa.eu 11f278043038.png

Source
 
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pharmakos

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Burns said:
Interesting. I thought that since the Moon is tidal locked, the center of gravity stayed in the same place, and wouldn't produce stress on the moon, but nope, there is still enough flux during orbit to do it, I guess. Data from the India lander is still being analyzed, but here is a brief summery of Moonquakes:

View attachment 489738
Source
Click to expand...
On a long enough timeline I guess it might reach internal equilibrium tho? Just not yet
 
Burns

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pharmakos said:
On a long enough timeline I guess it might reach internal equilibrium tho? Just not yet
Click to expand...
I tried to do some quick google searches on it, but didn't really find anything exactly addressing the internals of the moon.

If I had to take a guess, it would be that while the moon is stuck in tidal lock in the Earth's gravity well, it is still pulled by the sun. The center of gravity/orbit (barycenter) then moves around inside the moon, depending on it's distance from the sun and creates friction. It's just not enough friction to make the core inside the moon molten.
 
Captain Suave

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Burns said:
Interesting. I thought that since the Moon is tidal locked, the center of gravity stayed in the same place, and wouldn't produce stress on the moon, but nope, there is still enough flux during orbit to do it, I guess. Data from the India lander is still being analyzed, but here is a brief summery of Moonquakes:
Click to expand...

Although the Moon is tidally locked to the Earth, there's sufficient friction caused in the competition between a) its own gravity wanting to compress it into a sphere, b) its rotation wanting to make it ovoid around the equator, and c) the Earth's tidal force trying to draw it out into an ovoid perpendicular to the plane of its orbit. Also there's a +/- 250 F thermal swing between day and night that causes big thermal stress.
 
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pharmakos

pharmakos

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Burns said:
I tried to do some quick google searches on it, but didn't really find anything exactly addressing the internals of the moon.

If I had to take a guess, it would be that while the moon is stuck in tidal lock in the Earth's gravity well, it is still pulled by the sun. The center of gravity/orbit (barycenter) then moves around inside the moon, depending on it's distance from the sun and creates friction. It's just not enough friction to make the core inside the moon molten.
Click to expand...
Just the fact that it's orbit is slightly eccentric would be enough I think, since the interior is still cooling.
 
Cybsled

Cybsled

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Different molecule type, but similar. Jury is still out about the Venus phosphene source.
 
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