Comet Holmes vs. Jupiter

Ive been reading alot about comet holmes lately. I know it orbits Jupiter. Is it possible for it to impact Jupiter? If so.. what effects would it have on Jupiter?

reply to post by Reesecup

What have you been reading? Holmes does not orbit Jupiter. Like all comets, it orbits the sun.


If it ever does hit Jupiter the effect would probably be about the same as when Shoemaker-Levy; a few "zits" that faded after a while.

[edit on 23-10-2008 by Phage]

reply to post by Phage


I think he means that Comet Holmes is one of a classification of comets known as Jupiter family comets or short period comets. The OP is indeed mistaken though if he thinks that Holmes orbits Jupiter.

A short explanation can be found here:

www.windows.ucar.edu...=/comets/Jupiter_family.html&edu=high

[edit on 23-10-2008 by Resinveins]

Right. I said it wrong. I meant it orbits the sun but usually moves in the orbit of Jupiter.. or whatever. Im a she.. not a he.. not that it matters.

Does size of a comet matter on impact? If the entire planet.. coma and debris around it is considered larger than our own sun.. thats alot larger than Jupiter. Im not sure how large shoemaker levy was.

Originally posted by Reesecup
Does size of a comet matter on impact? If the entire planet.. coma and debris around it is considered larger than our own sun.. thats alot larger than Jupiter. Im not sure how large shoemaker levy was.

It doesn't matter how large the coma and debris around holmes is, the total mass does not change except for the particles that it leaves behind in its trail (which is how meteor showers are born). Although the cloud it created was huge, the density of matter would not be significant nor would it affect jupiter at all. Only the small nucleus would cause a noticeable impact.

Originally posted by Reesecup
Right. I said it wrong. I meant it orbits the sun but usually moves in the orbit of Jupiter.. or whatever. Im a she.. not a he.. not that it matters.

Does size of a comet matter on impact? If the entire planet.. coma and debris around it is considered larger than our own sun.. thats alot larger than Jupiter. Im not sure how large shoemaker levy was.

ngc is right on this matter..the size of the object is not that relevant.. although at one point holmes was larger than the sun but the volume of the object was large but the matter was not densly compacted.

i was following jmccsci.com while the holmes drama was happening and he stated that somewhere in 2050 or there about holmes was going to be in jupiters gravitational influence.. now i am not a spokesman for this dude but i listen to him.. when holmes comes into jupiters gravitational influence many things could happen.. it could be drawn in closer to jupiter and become one of it's moons.. it could make a death plundge into jupiters athmosphere.. or it's orbit may get changed.. it may get plunged further out towards saturn or perhaps get thrown inwards towards mars and earth.. celestial mechanics is a complicated subject needing super powerful computers to calculate all the variables..

in my opinion holmes is certainly one to watch..

peace to you

daz__

Thanks for all your answeres. I guess I never took into consideration the mass of Jupiters atmosphere. I know holmes would completely obliterate earth or mars for that matter.

When holmes comes close enough.. will we be able to see it as something other than a bright star in the sky? Like an actual comet or something?

Originally posted by Reesecup
Thanks for all your answeres. I guess I never took into consideration the mass of Jupiters atmosphere. I know holmes would completely obliterate earth or mars for that matter.

When holmes comes close enough.. will we be able to see it as something other than a bright star in the sky? Like an actual comet or something?

Hi Reesecup,

Holmes was naked eye visible since it first flared up. I was constantly looking up when the weather allowed.

daz__

i was following jmccsci.com while the holmes drama was happening and he stated that somewhere in 2050 or there about holmes was going to be in jupiters gravitational influence.. now i am not a spokesman for this dude but i listen to him.. when holmes comes into jupiters gravitational influence many things could happen.. it could be drawn in closer to jupiter and become one of it's moons.. it could make a death plundge into jupiters athmosphere.. or it's orbit may get changed

The orbit of 17P/Holmes is frequently changed by gravitational perturbations from Jupiter. However, it does not come anywhere near the satellite system of that planet at any time this century. In fact, it will only pass within Jupiter's "sphere of influence" (a volume of space where the gravitational force exerted by the planet on the comet exceeds 1 per cent that of the Sun) once in the entire 21st century (approximately 128 million kilometres on 2051 April 8). That is something like four times further away than Jupiter's outermost satellite, and over sixty times the distance of Callisto (the outermost of the four large moons).

jcometobs.web.fc2.com...

It's orbit will certainly be changed by this encounter, but not to any significant degree.

Thanks for all your answers. I guess I never took into consideration the mass of Jupiters atmosphere. I know holmes would completely obliterate Earth or Mars for that matter.

No, it would not. Comets are tiny when compared to a planet like Earth or Mars. 17P/Holmes would cause a fair amount of localised damage if it impacted a planet, but it wouldn't do anything else. Planets have been hit by asteroids and comets for billions of years (and many of them will have been far more massive than 17P/Holmes), but they are still here. In fact, the average comet is so small when compared to a planet that an impact wouldn't even measurably change the orbit.



[edit on 17-6-2009 by Mogget]

[edit on 17-6-2009 by Mogget]

Phage, from what I have read, I believe those 'zits' caused by Shoemaker/Levy, were actually 'earth sized zits'. Volatile, gaseous Jupiter did appear to take it in stride but just how would Earth fare under such circumstances? How would those 'earth-sized zits' translate into an Earth collision scenario under those conditions?

Originally posted by Xlynyr
Phage, from what I have read, I believe those 'zits' caused by Shoemaker/Levy, were actually 'earth sized zits'.

pretty large zits by any standard I would have to agree with you..

line 2

just in case..

daz