Asteriod Question

I'm a screenwriter and I have a question:

If a big enough asteroid hit Jupiter and a piece of Jupiter broke off, could
it become a rogue asteroid and head for Earth? (I've heard that Jupiter's
many moons were once actually part of Jupiter that broke off.)

If not, what type of situation can be proposed that would produce a
threatening rogue asteroid?

--
From the Desk of Lise Eleanor
http://www3.sympatico.ca/l_e/

Lise Eleanor wrote:

I'm a screenwriter and I have a question:

If a big enough asteroid hit Jupiter and a piece of Jupiter broke off, could
it become a rogue asteroid and head for Earth? (I've heard that Jupiter's
many moons were once actually part of Jupiter that broke off.)

If not, what type of situation can be proposed that would produce a
threatening rogue asteroid?

No, Jupiter is huge and largely gaseous, so even if the largest asteroid hit
it, Jupiter would more than likely swallow the darn thing whole (might raise a
nice plume of gas, but no "rogue" asteroid"). There are lots of asteroids in
orbits that come near to or cross the orbit of the Earth, and minor
perturbations by the planets over long periods of time or a collision with
another asteroid might push it into an Earth-impact trajectory. Clear skies
to you.

--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

Thank you David.

What would be the most likely origin of a rogue asteroid?

I'm only asking because if you or one of your astronomer buddies goes to see
this movie, I need you to walk out after saying, "Damn, that was bang on
info!"

Though I don't get much into the meteor/asteroid itself, if I could build an
element into the script that is "plausible theory" about a rogue asteroid,
then it is believeable.

I already have all the specs as to the damage report after collision of a
10km diameter projectile with Earth.

--
From the Desk of Lise Eleanor
http://www3.sympatico.ca/l_e/
"David Knisely" wrote in message
...
Lise Eleanor wrote:

I'm a screenwriter and I have a question:

If a big enough asteroid hit Jupiter and a piece of Jupiter broke off,
could
it become a rogue asteroid and head for Earth? (I've heard that
Jupiter's
many moons were once actually part of Jupiter that broke off.)

If not, what type of situation can be proposed that would produce a
threatening rogue asteroid?

No, Jupiter is huge and largely gaseous, so even if the largest asteroid
hit
it, Jupiter would more than likely swallow the darn thing whole (might
raise a
nice plume of gas, but no "rogue" asteroid"). There are lots of asteroids
in
orbits that come near to or cross the orbit of the Earth, and minor
perturbations by the planets over long periods of time or a collision with
another asteroid might push it into an Earth-impact trajectory. Clear
skies
to you.

--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

"Lise Eleanor" wrote in
news
Thank you David.

What would be the most likely origin of a rogue asteroid?

I'm only asking because if you or one of your astronomer buddies goes
to see this movie, I need you to walk out after saying, "Damn, that
was bang on info!"

Though I don't get much into the meteor/asteroid itself, if I could
build an element into the script that is "plausible theory" about a
rogue asteroid, then it is believeable.

I already have all the specs as to the damage report after collision
of a 10km diameter projectile with Earth.

If it's going to be a "sudden" asteroid then it must come from the
direction of the sun and thus invisible to us as observers, because we
cannot observe in daylight. If it came from any other direction it would
be discovered months to years in adavance of possible Earth impact.

Paul:

Good comment. Okay, in my script, the gov't has known it was coming for
almost 10 years. So, the scenario of the asteroid being deflected off
Jupiter's cloud tops would work with this that you said, "If it came from
any other direction it would
be discovered months to years in adavance of possible Earth impact", based
on your principle, correct?

This is good, because there is some technical jargon I avoided because I
didn't know how to explain why 1998FC (I think that's what it was called)
was a NEA that we didn't know about until it had already passed us.

Very, very good.

We call these little, but important, considerations "plot holes".

I'm trying to work out the plot holes.

--
From the Desk of Lise Eleanor
http://www3.sympatico.ca/l_e/
"Paul Lawler" wrote in message
. 170.93...
"Lise Eleanor" wrote in
news
Thank you David.

What would be the most likely origin of a rogue asteroid?

I'm only asking because if you or one of your astronomer buddies goes
to see this movie, I need you to walk out after saying, "Damn, that
was bang on info!"

Though I don't get much into the meteor/asteroid itself, if I could
build an element into the script that is "plausible theory" about a
rogue asteroid, then it is believeable.

I already have all the specs as to the damage report after collision
of a 10km diameter projectile with Earth.

If it's going to be a "sudden" asteroid then it must come from the
direction of the sun and thus invisible to us as observers, because we
cannot observe in daylight. If it came from any other direction it would
be discovered months to years in adavance of possible Earth impact.

Lise Eleanor wrote:

Paul:

Good comment. Okay, in my script, the gov't has known it was coming for
almost 10 years. So, the scenario of the asteroid being deflected off
Jupiter's cloud tops would work with this that you said, "If it came from
any other direction it would
be discovered months to years in adavance of possible Earth impact", based
on your principle, correct?

This is good, because there is some technical jargon I avoided because I
didn't know how to explain why 1998FC (I think that's what it was called)
was a NEA that we didn't know about until it had already passed us.

Very, very good.

We call these little, but important, considerations "plot holes".

I'm trying to work out the plot holes.

Check out these links here to the asteroid Toutatis (Celtic for "god of
war"), which some believe will eventually slam into earth due to its
unusal orbit so close to earth.


Also some believe that most if not all of the asteroid belt was formed
long ago by the collision of two planets, leaving the destroyed remains
forming into a belt. Others believe that the asteroid belt is composed
of captured debris from other collisions. Some even believe that our
moon is a captured remnant of two planets which collided aeons ago.


--

"Asteroid Toutatis, officially numbered 4179, was discovered by French
astronomers in 1989. Researchers can't predict far enough into the
future to rule out Toutatis ever slamming into Earth, so it is listed
officially as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid. NASA says it won't hit
for at least the next six centuries." - Robert Roy Britt of space.com

http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=3763
http://www.globalpsychics.com/lp/Pro...s.htm#Toutatis
http://www.artpolitic.org/infopedia/..._Toutatis.html
http://seekers.100megs6.com/Asteroid%20Toutatis.htm
http://www.cyber-north.com/ufo/toutatis.html

How can an asteroid be a 'rogue.' Are they bad? Don't they just exist. Is
it the asteroid's fault that he just happens to exist on a collision course
with earth.

I guess it would not be exciting to say that someone just discovered it
instead of using some catastrophic Velakovsky-esque planetary collision.
Ahh screw it...didn't Hitchcock say "if you want reality look out the
window"?

BP

"Lise Eleanor" wrote in message
. ..
Paul:

Good comment. Okay, in my script, the gov't has known it was coming for
almost 10 years. So, the scenario of the asteroid being deflected off
Jupiter's cloud tops would work with this that you said, "If it came from
any other direction it would
be discovered months to years in adavance of possible Earth impact",
based
on your principle, correct?

This is good, because there is some technical jargon I avoided because I
didn't know how to explain why 1998FC (I think that's what it was called)
was a NEA that we didn't know about until it had already passed us.

Very, very good.

We call these little, but important, considerations "plot holes".

I'm trying to work out the plot holes.

--
From the Desk of Lise Eleanor
http://www3.sympatico.ca/l_e/
"Paul Lawler" wrote in message
. 170.93...
"Lise Eleanor" wrote in
news
Thank you David.

What would be the most likely origin of a rogue asteroid?

I'm only asking because if you or one of your astronomer buddies goes
to see this movie, I need you to walk out after saying, "Damn, that
was bang on info!"

Though I don't get much into the meteor/asteroid itself, if I could
build an element into the script that is "plausible theory" about a
rogue asteroid, then it is believeable.

I already have all the specs as to the damage report after collision
of a 10km diameter projectile with Earth.

If it's going to be a "sudden" asteroid then it must come from the
direction of the sun and thus invisible to us as observers, because we
cannot observe in daylight. If it came from any other direction it
would
be discovered months to years in adavance of possible Earth impact.

"Lise Eleanor" wrote in message
. ..

Good comment. Okay, in my script, the gov't has known it was coming for
almost 10 years. So, the scenario of the asteroid being deflected off
Jupiter's cloud tops would work with this that you said, "If it came from

If you're really trying for any sort of realism, I would jettison the
"asteroid in Jupiter's clouds" bit.

Also, highly recommend you go to www.badastronomy.com and read up on his
comments of other Asteroid movies; namely, ARMAGEDDON, ASTEROID, and DEEP
IMPACT.

http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/movi...itageddon.html
http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/movies/di2.html
http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/asteroid.html

Also, take some of the replies on this thread with a grain of salt; one of
the people posting is a complete crackpot with delusions.

Lise Eleanor posted:

What would be the most likely origin of a rogue asteroid?

Well, there really isn't something exactly called a "rogue" asteroid, but
there are asteroids in various locations of the solar system. Most are known
as "main-belt" asteroids, which sit in an irregular region of space between
the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Then, there are a few others which have
rather unusual orbits well out of the main belt. If an object passes close to
Jupiter, its orbital path can get changed, so that might be a major reason to
have one sort of "come out of the blue". By this time in the solar system's
existance, most asteroids still in space have moved to fairly stable orbits,
since if they were perturbed by a close Jupiter pass, they would most likely
either end up hitting something (like Jupiter itself) or be cast out of the
inner solar system by a gravitational encounter with a large planet. Most of
those which could have hit have already hit, so we don't have a huge amount to
worry about there. However, comets are the real "wild cards", as they come
from deep-space in some rather elongated orbits which can sometimes get
strongly perturbed by Jupiter into the inner solar system to perhaps an orbit
with an Earth-crossing path. This is one reason that the movie DEEP IMPACT
used a comet rather than an asteroid as the "killer" body. In fact, it has
been suggested that many of the known "earth-crossers" (asteroids with orbits
which either closely approach or cross the orbit of the Earth) may actually be
"dead" comets (comets which have outgassed most of their ices, leaving a small
dusty or rocky core that keeps following its original path). Collisions
between asteroids may modify the path of the fragments somewhat, but they
rarely occur with enough energy to cause a large one to head into the inner
solar system where the Earth orbits. Perhaps a collision followed by a close
encounter with Jupiter might be a workable scenario if you really want to use
an asteroid. However, I wonder if the asteroid/comet impact theme hasn't been
overused somewhat in the movies (ie: Deep-Impact, Armageddon, METEOR, ect.).
If you want some good technical advise, I might contact someone at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, as they might be able to
"cook-up" a workable scenario (just follow their recommendations *to the
letter*, as, despite some good technical advice, the boys behind DEEP-IMPACT
and the absolutely horrid ARMAGEDDON did not, and both movies suffered for
it). Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

Lise Eleanor wrote:

I'm a screenwriter and I have a question:

If a big enough asteroid hit Jupiter and a piece of Jupiter broke off, could
it become a rogue asteroid and head for Earth? (I've heard that Jupiter's
many moons were once actually part of Jupiter that broke off.)

Jupiter is gas planet. In the unlikely event an asteroid strike produces
something out of Jupiter, this something will be a puff of gas.

If not, what type of situation can be proposed that would produce a
threatening rogue asteroid?

Take a look he

http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/seds/cha...t/science.html

Look under "Origins".

Regards,

- Alex