On Sat, 2010-01-09 at 05:06 -0800, Alastair wrote:
> I did run another, with an orbit closer to Jupiter, but after a few
> cycles it was ejected. I didn't like to mention that <grin>.
That's a good thing. A fair fraction of asteroids and comets get ejected
from the solar system, mostly because of interacting with Jupiter. A
couple of spacecraft have been ejected as well.
> I then thought I would try ten asteroids, and clicked on new. That
> wiped out all the data for all solar system planets, and restrarting
> the system did not get them back. I have now installed the system
> again but not tried any new experiments.
You should be able to load a data file. Some interesting data files to
load are at:
http://www.orbitsimulator.com/gravity/articles/simu.html
For example, to start with only the planets, load this file:
http://www.orbitsimulator.com/gravity/simulations/onlyplanets.gsim
> reached the Earth's orbit, the asteroids would be flying in parallel
> with the Earth, and so a collision would be more likely than with an
> earth crossing orbit.
Hmmm, I'm not sure if this claim is true or false. Remember that the
mostly likely interaction is a near passage, which will change the
orbit. This could change the orbit from a "earth crossing" to a "flying
in parallel" orbit, or the reverse. This would imply that perhaps there
wouldn't be much difference.
Mercury has a bunch of craters that seem to date to the late heavy
bombardment, so this would imply that Earth and Mars didn't stop all the
bodies. Venus as well.
> You may have noticed that this is not what I said originally. I have
> learnt a bit since then. Thanks!
You are very welcome, and thanks for listening.
--
Phil Hays <[email protected]>
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