Jupiter's New Impact Scar (2009 July 23)

[Storm_norm]

I know, I know, not trying to convince. just trying to make a point.
even a kid can see that this impact that the object had on jupiter is at the bottom of the impact scale, if there is such a scale. the event is insulting to the word "impact".
if I were the word impact, and I knew the types of astronomical impacts that go in the universe, i'd be downright insulted that my name was even used.
Jupiter absorbed the comet.
Jupiter enveloped the comet.
the comet was assimilated, ingested, swallowed whole.

the comet entered the cloudy mist and became part of the collective.

[geckzilla]

Heh, you act like it was a peaceful, happy event. I'm going to go impact my head into a door frame now.

[apodman]

I'm going to go impact my head into a door frame now.

Easy, Jean-Luc, we need that head for the next mission.

[geckzilla]

[karlhein]

Someone in this string was talking about the 'climatic effect' on the Jovian atmosphere. I seem to recall reading a long time ago that someone had estimated that the presence of Jupiter decreased the number of impacts on the Earth, secondary to the size, location and gravitational influence of Jupiter; and that this may have had a favorable effect on the climate and the evolution life on Earth. Is this true, or am I just having memory flashes?

[Chris Peterson]

Someone in this string was talking about the 'climatic effect' on the Jovian atmosphere. I seem to recall reading a long time ago that someone had estimated that the presence of Jupiter decreased the number of impacts on the Earth, secondary to the size, location and gravitational influence of Jupiter; and that this may have had a favorable effect on the climate and the evolution life on Earth. Is this true, or am I just having memory flashes?

Jupiter can sweep up some incoming comets. But it can also divert material towards us, and it is the primary gravitational perturber in the Solar System, certainly responsible for a lot of the smaller stuff that hits us.

I've never seen anything one way or the other that really convinced me that Jupiter could be considered either a positive or negative force (in the balance) for how conditions evolved on Earth.

[neufer]

Someone in this string was talking about the 'climatic effect' on the Jovian atmosphere. I seem to recall reading a long time ago that someone had estimated that the presence of Jupiter decreased the number of impacts on the Earth, secondary to the size, location and gravitational influence of Jupiter; and that this may have had a favorable effect on the climate and the evolution life on Earth.

Jupiter can sweep up some incoming comets. But it can also divert material towards us, and it is the primary gravitational perturber in the Solar System, certainly responsible for a lot of the smaller stuff that hits us. I've never seen anything one way or the other that really convinced me that Jupiter could be considered either a positive or negative force (in the balance) for how conditions evolved on Earth.

Certainly the Earth's cometary situation is probably only acerbated by Jupiter(; just consider how close we came to being smashed by a Jupiter captured Halley!).

OTOH, Jupiter must certainly be considered a plus in so far as asteroids are concerned.

<<It is believed that planetesimals in the main asteroid belt evolved much like the rest of the Solar Nebula until Jupiter neared its current mass, at which point excitation from orbital resonances with Jupiter ejected over 99% of planetesimals in the belt. Both simulations and a discontinuity in spin rate and spectral properties suggest that asteroids larger than approximately 120 km (75 mi) in diameter accreted during that early era, whereas smaller bodies are fragments from collisions between asteroids during or after the Jovian disruption.

In the Nice model, a large number of Kuiper Belt objects are captured in the outer Main Belt, at distances greater than 2.6 AU. Most were subsequently ejected by Jupiter, but those that remained may be the D-type asteroids, and possibly include Ceres.>>

[bystander]

There was an interesting article about Jupiter and its gravity well at Astronomy.com. It even talked about Hilda and the latest impact.

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=8616