Posted on 08/13/2010 12:01:53 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Jupiter, the biggest planet in the solar system, might have gained its dominant position after swallowing up a smaller planet, scientists believe.
Studies on Jupiter have revealed that the giant planet, which is more than 120 times bigger than the Earth, has an extremely small core that weighs just two to 10 Earth masses.
Now scientists have claimed that Jupiter's core might have been vaporised in huge collision with a planet up to ten times the size of Earth, the New Scientist reported.
Researchers led by by Shu Lin Li of Peking University in China have modelled what might have happened in the wake of the collision. Their simulations showed that the incoming rocky body flattened like a pancake when it hit the gas giant's atmosphere.
Then it barrelled into the giant's core about half an hour later and the energy of the collision could have vaporised much of the core.
These vaporised heavy elements would then have mixed with the hydrogen and helium of the gas giant's atmosphere, leaving only a fraction of the gas giant's former core behind.
This could explain not only why Jupiter's core is so small, but also why its atmosphere is richer in heavy elements compared with the Sun, the scientists said.
Study co-author Douglas Lin at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said the super-Earth might have grown into a gas giant itself one day if it had not collided with Jupiter.
"It may very well have been on its way to becoming a gas giant, but lost the race and got gobbled up."
Saturn has a similar overabundance of heavy elements in its atmosphere and the scientists believe this could also be due to impacts by rocky objects smaller than Earth that decelerated and broke up before they could reach Saturn's core.
The team's simulations suggest that this would have left the core intact, or even added to its mass as fragments rained down onto it.
"It's an interesting explanation of why you might have a variety of core masses in giant planets," said William Hubbard of the University of Arizona in Tucson. "It's a very useful contribution."
According to scientists, the planets in the solar system were created by collisions between small dwarf planets orbiting the newborn Sun.
In the collisions the small planets melted together and formed larger planets. The Earth and Moon are the result of a gigantic collision between two planets the size of Mars and Venus, they said.
And what prompted this “hypothesis” to emerge now, and not at some earlier point in time?
CA....
GIGO
Garbage In, Garbage Out. Just like Glowbull Warming. Basis of models but what is the basis of basis?
We decedents of planet Gog want reparations.
Bush’s Fault
For Rosie O’Donnell, that’s breakfast.
What a coincidence!! So did Mooshell Obummer!!
It’s supposed to be Saturn that swallowed his children, not Jupiter. Maybe they should switch the names of the two planets.
I know you meant this as a joke but there is evidence gases rise to the surface after a long period of time and after a large impact like this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_igneous_province
The earth seen a number of events we call them mass extinction.
The greatest extinction in world history coincide with what seems to be a belching of the earth.
the great extinction of 250 million years ago is very likely one of those ‘burps’
Terrible article.
More mass!= smaller core. Same principle behind white dwarfs and neutron stars.
A little more mass and Jupiter becomes a star.
This is the key to the Michael Moore diet.
In a deeper translation, Chinese guys and their wives expel hot gas and heavy elements at each other. Then they get exhausted and get along fine again. That's because they safely drink tea and not coffee from Brasil.
“Get in Me Belly!”
...the giant planet, which is more than 120 times bigger than the Earth, has an extremely small core that weighs just two to 10 Earth masses.Thanks LibWhacker for the topic. Jupiter's mass is nearly 318 times that of the Earth's, and its density is about one-fourth that of Earth, hence it has much greater overall volume. :')
 |
||
| · join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe · | ||
The Earth and Moon are the result of a gigantic collision between two planets the size of Mars and Venus, they said.Well, that's just zany. Venus isn't as large as the Earth is *now*; the Moon is about 1 percent of the mass of the Earth; ergo, in the impact origin model, the proto-Earth was even larger than we see today. Mars is about 1/8th the mass of the Earth, and about half of the mass of the Moon came from the impactor, according to that model.
>>> And what prompted this “hypothesis” to emerge now, and not at some earlier point in time?
Darn right. And I demand to know why the Theory of Relativity wasn’t devised by the Assyrians. Something very strange in that.
Note: this topic is from 08/13/2010. Thanks LibWhacker. Adding, not pinging.
 |
||
| · join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe · | ||
| Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar · | ||
Deus Ex Machina keyword:
More Jupiter action.
Uranus has been eclipsed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.