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I read in a topic here a little while ago that Gallileo(sp) was going to crash into Jupiter in September and it could make Jupiter explode, possibly destroying the galaxy. Is this really possible, or is just more hooey from doomsayers?
Editied because I commonly refer to Mars too often.
Order of Kilopi
Hooey.
Total, complete and unadulterated hooey.
Established Member
Just more hooey from doomsayersOriginally Posted by ObiWan377
I remember reading on here where the BA calculated the force of Galileo hitting Jupiter and it was insignificant compared to comet Shoemaker-Levy. It may have been lost in the webhost problem of last month.
Kizarvexis
Established Member
Galileo will crash into Jupiter in late September, not Mars. Unless there's been a dramatic change in plans.
No, Jupiter won't explode. It didn't explode when Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with it, it hasn't exploded in any of the countless previous collisions that it has experienced in its billions of years of existence, and it won't explode when Galileo takes a dive.
And even if Jupiter could somehow explode, it wouldn't affect the entire galaxy.
If it does, I owe you a Coke.
Established Member
I'll give you two cokes and some pocket lint.
Established Member
It's more than a lot of hooey. It's possibly the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard about Galileo, or any spacecraft for that matter. Galileo is nowhere near Mars, and it will not make Jupiter explode or even have the slightest noticeable effect on Jupiter.
Established Member
Just apply some common sense to it and you should have no trouble figuring this one out for yourself.
First off, Jupiter is made of hydrogen so it can explode, right...? No, to burn, hydrogen needs OXYGEN, which Jupiter has very little of. Or better yet, to "burn" better it needs to start fusion just like the sun.
But wait, if Jupiter starts undergoing fusion, what would that really do? It significantly smaller than the Sun. How could it possibly damage anything but itself and maybe its nearest moons? It couldn't.
And beyond that, how exactly could fusion start? Jupiter is big but its nowhere near the size of the sun. Its not big enough to sustain a fusion reaction. And as others pointed out, even if it were, other far larger (many orders of magnitude) impacts would have started it by now.
Established Member
Frankly, I, for one, am sorely disappointed that Jupiter won't explode. Really, what humanity needs to get the slugs of this world interested in astronomy is for something like Jupiter to go kerblewie and light up the night sky. That would get folks's attention!
Order of Kilopi
A self-multiplying black tablet that has dimensions which are the squares of the first three prime numbers.
Order of Kilopi
For $39.95 I'll name it "The ObiWan377 Explosion" and send you the ashen remains of a nice certificate.
Honored Member
It doesn't stop with the first three numbers...A self-multiplying black tablet that has dimensions which are the squares of the first three prime numbers
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[Dave Bowman]It's full of stars![/DB]
Honored Member
The Star Gate opened.[Dave Bowman]It's full of stars![/DB]
The Star Gate Closed...
Established Member
I doubt that Jupiter would explode if you crashed say, Saturn into it... Let alone the long dead carcass of Galileo. Besides, how would something that happens on Mars affect Jupiter anyway? I thought they were millions of miles away?
Is this the kind of people we have on these boards? No wonder it's call bad astronomy...
p.s. Galileo was a joke, I know it's a probe... Of course the original poster could have meant the long dead carcass we shall never know...
Member
WHAT?... it's a hoax? but I just bought the movie rights!
Order of Kilopi
I guess the whole misconception originates from to many movies where every small car involved in a small accident explodes like a big, big bomb. No wonder people consider it possible that a spacecraft hitting a planet could cause a huge, huge explosion...
Established Member
Er, Zamboni? We don't flame people for asking questions here at the Bad Astronomy Bulletin Board, no matter how dumb the question may seem. If you flame them for asking questions, then they stop asking questions. Duh.
Also, I would point out that the OP made it clear that he was only asking in reference to seeing it referred to somewhere else.
Don't assume that the person asking a woo-woo question is himself a woo-woo. Many of us, myself included, also hang out on an assortment of tinfoil hat, twinkie, and woo-woo websites, and we frequently come in here to get our astronomy questions answered, looking for "facts" as opposed to the day-old oatmeal that passes for "facts" on those websites.
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Hmmm! Galileo spacecraft = Ford Pinto!I guess the whole misconception originates from to many movies where every small car involved in a small accident explodes like a big, big bomb. No wonder people consider it possible that a spacecraft hitting a planet could cause a huge, huge explosion...
Order of Kilopi
It´s imperative to say that a galaxy is something very, very, very huge. A vast collection of stars and dust. Even when a giant star explodes as a supernova (and they do it very often) a galaxy remains unharmed. And a galaxy is something somewhat tenuous. Not even another galaxy can completely destroy a galaxy.
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Order of Kilopi
Heck, the billions of stars in a galaxy are so far apart, one galaxy can collide with another and the likelihood of any stellar collisions is very small.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Established Member
So far so good. Gallileo will indeed run smack into Jupiter later this month.I read in a topic here a little while ago that Gallileo(sp) was going to crash into Jupiter in September
Oh dear. This now moves up to take the title of "most ludicrous prediction of astronomical consequences ever."and it could make Jupiter explode, possibly destroying the galaxy. Is this really possible, or is just more hooey from doomsayers?
This is rubbish, and it is not hard to work this out. A few years ago, several fragments of a comet, each much larger (much much larger!) than the Gallileo probes, slammed into Jupiter. The impacts produced massive explosions, and left huge impact scars on Jupiter. A few days later, Jupiter looked exactly the same as it did before the collision. From looking at Jupiter, you cannot tell that it was impacted at all.
Gallileo is tiny, and there is only one of it. Jupiter will easily survive the impact, and in all likelihood the event will be virtually undetectable from Earth.
Ah, say the doomsayers, but Gallileo is carrying nuclear material, which might just triger a fusion reaction in Jupiter's hydrogen. Well, no. I do not profess to be any kind of expert on nuclear fusion or fission reactions, (but then neither are any of the people making the claims of disaster!), but it seems clear to me that Jupiter just isn't large enough to sustain the fusion of its hydrogen. The only reason stars 'burn' for millions of years is that their enormous mass provides enough gravity to prevent the initial fusion reaction in the core from just being one huge explosion like a hydrogen bomb. With Jupiter the size that it is, any fusion reaction started by a surface impact will only provide, at the most, an explosion, in which the energy released by the fusion will just disperse with minimal disruption to the planet.
In short, Gallileo is simply too small to have any significant effect on Jupiter.
As for Jupiter destroying the galaxy, if stars can go supernova without disrupting their galaxies, and whole galaxies can collide (which loosely translates to 'pass straight through each other') without major disruption, the explosion of Jupiter won't have any effect outside this solar system.
Just out of interest, would anyone more clued up about these things than I care to speculate as to what would happen if Jupiter were to explode?
Established Member
It would affect its moon system, probably flinging some of the Jovian moons out of their orbits. The ejected moons and some gas might disturb the orbits of some asteroids, but other than that, I don't think it would have much effect outside of the Jovian system.
Established Member
It's a relief to know that this isn't a serious problem. I feel relived.
BTW, I'm not a troll. I know I post alot of questions asking if *insert doom cry here* is going to happen, but that's because I can't decide which ones are phony and which ones are true and without knowing it makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm not really intelligent, but once I get back into school tomorrow, I plan to learn more about astronomy. Thanks to all who have helped me out.
Established Member
Fine, then I'll flame you.
If you flame them for asking questions, then they stop asking questions. Duh.
That use of "Duh" really killed any credibility of your statement. Besides how is blocking out questions of these kind (if an electron left me will I explode and destroy the galaxy?) a bad thing? Granted this board is not that active but you can't possibly be THAT desperate?
Don't assume that the person asking a woo-woo question is himself a woo-woo.
That's a great excuse, remind me to use it next time: Uh... Mr. Police, just because I am driving with a beer bottle in both my hands doesn't mean I'm drinking *hic*, and just because I ran over two red lights and 3 pedestrians doesn't mean I am drunk *hic*... And just because I slept with your wife half an hour ago doesn't mean I'm having an affair with her... It was just for scientific research I swear!
Established Member
Or for Rigel to go nova. that would brighten things up a bit wouldn't it?what humanity needs to get the slugs of this world interested in astronomy is for something like Jupiter to go kerblewie and light up the night sky. That would get folks's attention!
I wonder how those TMA's from space odysey turned jupiter into a star, i think i was half asleep when i read that part maybe it wasn't really explained?
Order of Kilopi
Zamboni, you've broken board rules.
Please read the FAQ. There is a link at the top of the page.Fine, then I'll flame you.
We want to listen to the questions and answer them. That's the point of this board. There are people who are afraid something will happen, and no matter how strange the question is, we will try to remove that fear. (Think Planet X) How is that a bad thing?Besides how is blocking out questions of these kind (if an electron left me will I explode and destroy the galaxy?) a bad thing?
Edited for spelling
Established Member
[-X Strike One - Bad Logic right there....That's a great excuse, remind me to use it next time: Uh... Mr. Police, just because I am driving with a beer bottle in both my hands doesn't mean I'm drinking *hic*, and just because I ran over two red lights and 3 pedestrians doesn't mean I am drunk *hic*... And just because I slept with your wife half an hour ago doesn't mean I'm having an affair with her... It was just for scientific research I swear!
Think of it this way. Myself and others also frequent boards where the residents there say things like "OMG Phobos is gonna hit us" or "Galileo is gonna light up Jupiter like a firecracker." These characters are the originators of the stupid thinking - but they (usually) don't come here and tell us about it.
Now it can happen that one of us is unsure of the validity of a particular claim, so we come here looking for the smart answer. It can also happen that we are made afraid by the claims, and come here looking to have our fears assuaged.
Don't shoot the messenger - this is key when on a discussion board.
Order of Kilopi
From 2010;-Originally posted by pi=exactly 3
I wonder how those TMA's from space odysey turned jupiter into a star, i think i was half asleep when i read that part maybe it wasn't really explained?
'Jupiter is - was - mostly hydrogen. If a large percentage could be converted into much denser material - who knows, even neutron matter? - that would drop down to the core. ...
'But how would that explain what happened?' asked Tanya.
'When the core became dense enough, Jupiter would collapse - probably in a matter of seconds. The temperature would rise high enough to start fusion. Oh, I can see a dozen objections - how would they get past the iron minimum; what about radiative transfer; Chandrasekhar's limit. Never mind. This theory will do to start with; I'll work out the details later. Or I'll think of a better one.'
--------------
Peter F Hamilton uses the same trick with his Neurtonium Alchemist...
a lump of artificially stabilised neutronium attracts mass untill fusion is triggered by gravity.
This is developed as a weapon however-
Too much mass falling in too quickly and the gravity's energy causes a bounce like that seen in a supernova.
Boom.
Established Member
Given that the outer planets' orbits are interlocked in resonance relations (they are, aren't they?), I wonder what effect removing the biggest player would have in that regard. Anyone?
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