Re: APOD: Rosetta's Target Comet (2014 May 23)
Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 5:12 pm
as far as landing on an object of low gravity ? Remember EROS ? I just hope they remember the units they use to measure with
APOD and General Astronomy Discussion Forum
https://asterisk.apod.com/
"Globular." Fixed it. Sorry. - RJNGruyere wrote:Mmmmmmmmm ,,, gob-ular
The landing part just sounds difficult. It's the orbiting part I can't understand.geckzilla wrote:Landing on something with such low surface gravity has its own challenges.
Why? Any two massive bodies will orbit each other given the proper velocity.Jim Leff wrote:The landing part just sounds difficult. It's the orbiting part I can't understand.
The orbiter has the mass of a pickup truck. The comet has the mass of a small asteroid - much less mass than Everest.Chris Peterson wrote:Any two massive bodies will orbit each other given the proper velocity.
Yes.Jim Leff wrote:The orbiter has the mass of a pickup truck. The comet has the mass of a small asteroid - much less mass than Everest.
Or by "massive" do you mean "containing any mass at all"?
Chris Peterson wrote:Yes.Jim Leff wrote:The orbiter has the mass of a pickup truck. The comet has the mass of a small asteroid - much less mass than Everest.
Or by "massive" do you mean "containing any mass at all"?
By my quick calculation, the orbital speed works out to around 3 cm/s for a 200 km radius orbit.