Possible Asteroid impact on Jupiter

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
reply to post by ngchunter

 

So we have tectonic activity as one possible explanation. Then we have what JPL is saying below:

The fact is it's probably a combination of tidal, tectonic, and radioactive heating. But the geysers themselves have already been directly analyzed by Cassini, so they're definately geysers, and the heat has several reasonable explanations that don't require unlikely reasons.

[edit on 22-7-2009 by ngchunter]

reply to post by ngchunter


And that is my whole point: why would electrical interactions between the moon and parent body (which we have witnessed happening in other such systems, with large ion flows between them) be unlikely? Because it doesn't fit the current theory/model?

The moon is made of ice. If there are electrical phenomena occuring, it would be obvious that it would produce water. There IS another explanation. If i were to use the word "probably", it would be every bit as strong as the explanation you have provided.

My only issue here is the use of an unproven hypothesis at the exclusion of other unproven hypotheses. While that may be what passes for science nowadays, it isn't science.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


There are not that many mechanisms, really. The moon is only a few hundred miles across. Not really big enough to create much heat internally without something a little more exotic driving the process. Radioactive decay is a possibility. If the Plasma Cosmology model is correct (which many don't believe...but that is a different story altogether), then it could also be due to electrical processes due to interaction with the parent body.

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
reply to post by ngchunter

 

And that is my whole point: why would electrical interactions between the moon and parent body (which we have witnessed happening in other such systems, with large ion flows between them) be unlikely?

Yet we aren't witnessing those large ion flows here, therefore it's unlikely, infinitely less likely than a combination of tidal, tectonic, and other mundane sources of heat KNOWN to exist in moons like enceladus.

*Incidently, back on topic, there were severe thunderstorms at my house late into the night last night. Hopefully the spot will still be visible tonight.

[edit on 22-7-2009 by ngchunter]

Who's to say it was even a meteor, or a big earth sized chunck of ice...nobody saw it impact the planet right?

Originally posted by star in a jar
Since Jupiter is a gas giant, where did the asteroid go, did it exit on the other side, break up, or did Jupiter absorb it like a sponge?

Think of the impact as a nuclear explosion. The force created between the comet's velocity and Jupiter's thick atmosphere would be enough for a fusion/fission reaction and no chance for pieces to pop out the other side. With the amount of energy and the size of the impact I imagine it would take some time for that area to recover.

FYI Jupiter does have a surface, it's gaseous and liquid. As for the possibility of a solid core (surface) I find Greek mythology about Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus interesting.

As in the myth about Zeus and Metis it appears Zeus, or Jupiter, swallowed Metis while she was pregnant with Athene for fear of being overthrown. Only later to spit out Metis with Athene, fully formed. There are similar myths relating to Saturn and Uranus that read more like astronomical events rather than myths.