Hi Gary, Your explanation of the outgassing of comets and Count Deiro's
question, made me think of one of the proposed ways of deflecting
asteroids which uses the Yarkovsky effect to focus the suns energy on
the outer surface of the asteroid thereby vaporizing material and
causing a propulsive force to nudge the asteroid into a new orbit.
So, if the Yarkovsky effect will work on asteroids, what's the
difference between that, and Comet Hartley 2's outgassing on the orbit
of the body? Is the force from the outgassing that much less than what
the Yarkovsky effect could produce?
Regards,
Eric
On 11/4/2010 9:18 AM, Gary Fujihara wrote:
Aloha Count,
Comets like Hartley 2 are comprised of rock, dust, water ice and frozen gases
like carbon monoxide, methane and ammonia. As the comet approaches the sun,
volatile material vaporize and outgas from the nucleus from solar radiation.
Although the outgassing of Comet Hartley 2 is quite active as can be seen in
the spacecraft close approach images, and does impart a force (and a reactive
force against the direction of the outgassing on the comet itself), it is
negligible and does not alter the trajectory of the minor body to any
appreciable degree due to the mass of the comet itself.
gary
On Nov 4, 2010, at 6:07 AM, Count Deiro wrote:
Gary and List,
Thank you for the post, Big Kahuna. Anybody know if all that outgassing imparts
any thrust to the comet... and if so would it affect its orbit?
Count Deiro
IMCA 3536
-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Fujihara<[email protected]>
Sent: Nov 4, 2010 8:49 AM
To: MeteorList<[email protected]>
Subject: [meteorite-list] EPOXI images of Comet Hartley 2
For those of you who missed the live webcast, EPOXI spacecraft flew by Comet
Hartley 2 a few minutes ago and took some absolutely stunning pictures with its
Medium Resolution Imager. Here is a composite of 3 of the 5 closest approach
images:
http://bigkahuna-meteorites.com/Images/CometHartley-04.jpg
EPOXI mission webpage: http://epoxi.umd.edu/
Gary Fujihara
Big Kahuna Meteorites (IMCA#1693)
105 Puhili Place, Hilo, Hawai'i 96720
http://bigkahuna-meteorites.com/
http://shop.ebay.com/fujmon/m.html
(808) 640-9161
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Gary Fujihara
Big Kahuna Meteorites (IMCA#1693)
105 Puhili Place, Hilo, Hawai'i 96720
http://bigkahuna-meteorites.com/
http://shop.ebay.com/fujmon/m.html
(808) 640-9161
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