Asteroid speculation

[frankglennjacobs@gmail.com]

"Once upon a time, long, long ago, in a far-away galaxy . . . " Observers calculated that in just a few lifetimes the migrating orbits of two of the plainly-visible planets would bring the actual planets close enough so that the gravity/tidal/proximity effects would be worth watching.

 

So they watched. Very patiently. Naturally they did other things, but they kept this on their calendars. Sure enough, at the predicted time, the orbits were perturbed the predicted perturbations, and the predicted encounter came to pass.

 

Within a few heartbeats of the predicted time, allowing for the light to travel from the event to the Observers, one of the planets began visibly coming apart.

 

Because it was rotating, the pieces coming off were flung in the directions one would expect, spreading busted planet parts out somewhat in that orbit, so that it seemed to grow about one over twelve squared in diameter in a matter of a six times twelve cubed heartbeats.

 

As expected, the molten interior of the former-planet came apart to form more than twelve to the sixth power rotating, glowing, molten blobs.

 

But not for long.

 

Almost every single such blob fell onto (into?) the other planet before one could count to twelve cubed.

 

"And this was odd, because, you know," they had not predicted that any at all would get away like that.

 

The pitiful remainders were scattered thru space. Some remained in orbit -- wild, tilted, elliptical orbits, some turning odd shapes as they rotated and cooled.

 

Since they looked a little like little stars, the Observers called them Asteroids.

Edited May 27, 2017 by frankglennjacobs@gmail.com

[swansont]

What model predicts this, and what evidence supports it?

[MigL]

Or...

Can you say what you mean with a little less prose,

so that we can understand what you're actually talking about.

[frankglennjacobs@gmail.com]

First off, this is a speculation, plainly labeled as speculation, in the Speculation section, so I get some leeway here.

 

The model and the evidence is up in the sky -- mostly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter -- and somewhat spread out beyond them.

 

With "less prose," I am speculating (again!) that the Asteroids are a tiny remnant of a former planet that got the Roche Limit Treatment.

 

Realizing that in the ordinary course of events, there would be NOTHING left over from such a planet after such an encounter -- I speculate that on rare occasions there might be some leftovers.

 

(For example, in the ordinary course of events, a planetary "capture" results in lithosphere-to-lithosphere impact at the end of the first orbit. Yet there have been some successful captures.)

Edited May 27, 2017 by frankglennjacobs@gmail.com

[MigL]

There is speculation that when the solar system was being formed, gravitational perturbations from Jupiter injected enough energy into the orbits of the asteroid belt's planetesimals ( is that an accepted word ? ) and debris, to keep them from coalescing into another Mars sized planet.

[swansont]

First off, this is a speculation, plainly labeled as speculation, in the Speculation section, so I get some leeway here.

But far less than you are trying to take.

 

What model predicts what you describe, and what evidence supports it?

[frankglennjacobs@gmail.com]

You and I both remember before NASA got us those spectacular asteroid photographs that it was said that this space shot will shed some light on the history of the Solar System.

 

(Of course, that was mere publicity, designed to pry the money from Congress.)

 

And as far as I know, no scientist said, "If the Asteroids are all gravel-piles, we will know they were mere accumulations of space stuff. But if some of them look like they were poured hot and rotating and got all potato-shaped as they cooled, then we can suspect that maybe some of them are remnants of an actual planet." (Probably no scientist said that, but that would have made a swell model, I think.)

 

So all we have here is that after-the-fact, the photographs turned out to show all sorts of asteroids.

 

Until we can land on some and drill into them, we will not know. All we have is what they LOOK like.

 

That is the evidence. It is not enough evidence to convict an ugly stray dog that you find hanging around the hen-house.

 

But it is enough evidence to get my speculator to speculating the speculation that was discarded three or four generations ago.

 

And it is enough evidence to make YOU wish there was more evidence one way or the other.

 

(I, for one, would like for NASA to find even one large, solid-metal, asteroid. Now, THAT would be evidence!)

 

Yes, I realize that it would take a " J U S T R I G H T " encounter to leave any thing at all of such a vigorously-terminated planet.

 

But we are free to speculate on a gas-giant planet that got expelled clear out of the Solar System, and on migrating planetary orbits exchanging the places of Saturn and Jupiter.

Edited May 27, 2017 by frankglennjacobs@gmail.com

[swansont]

OK then. Closed.