"Santa's" strange spin

Possibly rotating once every 3.9 hours despite its large size:
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/0509...050905-17.html

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 16:37:53 -0500, Pat Flannery
wrote:

Possibly rotating once every 3.9 hours despite its large size:
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/0509...050905-17.html

....Yeah, it appears that Mrs. Claus is trying to keep him moving. Must
be that desire to reduce his cholesterol levels :-P

OM

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OM wrote:

...Yeah, it appears that Mrs. Claus is trying to keep him moving. Must
be that desire to reduce his cholesterol levels :-P



Santa is way too far out for this to have much of an effect, but I
wonder if anyone's looked into solar radiation causing asteroids to
spin up due to differences in albedo on various parts of their surfaces
leading to a solar sail effect.

Pat

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 17:18:31 -0500, Pat Flannery
wrote:

Santa is way too far out for this to have much of an effect, but I
wonder if anyone's looked into solar radiation causing asteroids to
spin up due to differences in albedo on various parts of their surfaces
leading to a solar sail effect.

....Personally, I think we're simply looking at a KBO that took a
rather fast glancing blow, enough to put that kind of a spin on it.

OM

--

"Try Andre Dead Duck Canadian Champagne! | http://www.io.com/~o_m
Rated the lamest of the cheapest deported | Sergeant-At-Arms
brands by the Condemned in Killfile Hell!" | Human O-Ring Society

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 17:18:31 -0500, Pat Flannery wrote
(in article ):



OM wrote:

...Yeah, it appears that Mrs. Claus is trying to keep him moving. Must
be that desire to reduce his cholesterol levels :-P



Santa is way too far out for this to have much of an effect, but I
wonder if anyone's looked into solar radiation causing asteroids to
spin up due to differences in albedo on various parts of their surfaces
leading to a solar sail effect.

Pat

Asymmetrical venting, I betcha. This on the heels of a report I saw
today that Ceres likely has large amounts of frozen volatiles,
including water. (Sorry no link).

--
"Fame may be fleeting but obscurity is forever." ~Anonymous
"I believe as little as possible and know as much as I can."
~Todd Stuart Phillips
www.angryherb.net

Herb Schaltegger wrote:

Asymmetrical venting, I betcha. This on the heels of a report I saw
today that Ceres likely has large amounts of frozen volatiles,
including water. (Sorry no link).



Yeah, but that distance (it's out beyond Pluto) what is the heat source
that causes the ices to vaporize and vent?

Pat

Herb Schaltegger wrote:

[...] This on the heels of a report I saw
today that Ceres likely has large amounts of frozen volatiles,
including water. (Sorry no link).


http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9247925/

--
Hop David
http://clowder.net/hop/index.html

Herb Schaltegger wrote:

Asymmetrical venting, I betcha. This on the heels of a report I saw
today that Ceres likely has large amounts of frozen volatiles,
including water. (Sorry no link).



I think I can figure out something that combines both your and OM's
concepts- if Santa is basically a big low-density chunk of dust and ice,
and it gets struck by something fairly small and dense moving at high
velocity (like a nickel-iron meteor) then the impactor could penetrate
its surface to a considerable depth and create a "hot spot" inside of
it, which would cause the ices to melt and vent out the hole the
impactor caused, spinning it up like a low-thrust rocket engine.

Pat

On Tue, 13 Sep 2005 15:36:08 -0500, Pat Flannery wrote
(in article ):



Herb Schaltegger wrote:

Asymmetrical venting, I betcha. This on the heels of a report I saw
today that Ceres likely has large amounts of frozen volatiles,
including water. (Sorry no link).



I think I can figure out something that combines both your and OM's
concepts- if Santa is basically a big low-density chunk of dust and ice,
and it gets struck by something fairly small and dense moving at high
velocity (like a nickel-iron meteor) then the impactor could penetrate
its surface to a considerable depth and create a "hot spot" inside of
it, which would cause the ices to melt and vent out the hole the
impactor caused, spinning it up like a low-thrust rocket engine.

Pat

Could be - I didn't realize how far out "Santa" was when I first
posted. After I thought about it, I considered impact heating but
promptly forgot to post a note to that effect.


--
"Fame may be fleeting but obscurity is forever." ~Anonymous
"I believe as little as possible and know as much as I can."
~Todd Stuart Phillips
www.angryherb.net

Herb Schaltegger wrote:

Could be - I didn't realize how far out "Santa" was when I first
posted. After I thought about it, I considered impact heating but
promptly forgot to post a note to that effect.



The other alternative is not one body being hit by another causing it to
spin, but two bodies that suffered such a low velocity impact that they
congealed into one while preserving much of their momentum that got
converted into spin on the composite object.
Sort of like what would happen if those two shepherd moons that share
the same orbit around Saturn bumped into each other while they were passing.

Pat