The Three Bodies Riddle
74The Points of Lagrange
The famous mathematician Lagrange (1736 - 1813) published his first works about the so called " The three bodies riddle", exactly in 1772. At this time only 6 planets had been recorded, and none of the asteroids or planetoids discovered. Lagrange'd predicted already that the mechanics which was based on the Newton's gravitation law allowed to forecast 5 (five) points around a planet which rotates around another body.Those points are the sites where the attractive force is null in the three bodies system including the attractive mass, the one which gravitates around it & the zone where they're situated. Among those 5 points,the three ones which're located along the line which links the 2 bodies (e.g the earth & the moon, or the sun & the planet Jupiter) are unsteady, i.e, any third body third body located at those positions' ll be ousted, and, so, couldn't any longer stay. On the contrary, the two other remaining points which are symmetric in comparison with this line (axis), are steady: a third body is immediadetly caprured if it grazes closely them, obviously with a sufficient speed & then depends (bound up) on the system. This third body could anyway evolve inside the sys tem, meanwhile never run away outwrads, so, it plays the role of a fictive planetoid because it's kept confined inside the system.
1/ The 5 (five) points of Lagrange:
The 5 points of Lagrange described by the famous mathematician, are denoted L1, L2, L3, L4 & L5. Three of those 5 points are situated on the line which links the two bodies (e.g earth-moon, or sun-Jupiter), they're unsteady, the two others, L4 and L5 are situated on the orbit of the rotating body (moon, or planet Jupiter). Jupiter which has a gross mass many times higher (heavier) than the moon, so the phenomenon' s more visible because its attractive force should be greater. L4 & L5 in the Jupiter- sun system, are inhabited by a great deal of asteroids, or planetoids ( some one's diameter doesn't exceed 20 kms, rougly 12.5 miles).They may probably be the bits of the ancients planets,evenly,the remains of the protosun which brought forth more than 5 billions years ago. The investigation of the dust brought back from the moon shows clearly than it could have many billions years old (5 billions years probably).
2/ The Greeks and the Trojan:
The first asteroid was discovered in 1906 (exactly on february 22nd), it's situated at 5.2 time greater than the distance between the earth and the sun. Since, they are differenciated and classified into two camps: the Greeks which gravitate before the planet Jupiter, and the Trojan which follow behind it. The second one discovered on October 17th, the same year was named Petrocleus, & belongs to the Trojan camp while the fist one, to the Greek camp. The evidence of a gravitational depression far from a planet, and very steady, came true. Both Greeks and Trojan are tiny bodies, in comparison with a planet: their diameter doesn't exceed 1,000 kms (roughly 700 miles), even less! Thus,this discovery provides &strenghtens the Relativity evidence
3/ Meteors and Meteorites:
Meteors and Meteorites are bits (snatches, or frafments) of asteroids & planetoids which belong to the solar system. Among those which fell down on earth, there're 23 which're coming from the moon, 22 from planet Mars. Their masses could yield from < 10 megatons up to 100,000 megatons, even 1,000,000 megatons (1 mega = 1,000,000), therefore, their diameters are worth between 50 m & 1,000 m, whereas sometime they could reach roughly 2,000 m, till now the biggest one has 1,700 m of diameter (roughly 1 mile). However they could cause heavy damages as well as heavy casualties such as airbursts, large craters evenly serious material & human losses. That explains probably why they caused formely the extinction of gigantic prehistoric animals ( e.g brontosaurs, dinosaurs,...).
The Points of Lagrange
Planet Jupiter with its four moons
Jupiter's moon Io volcano Tvashtar in motion
Spacecraft's probe characteristics
Asteroid 2002 JF 56
New Horizons missionLoading...
The picture above shows Asteroid 2002 JF 56 taken by the Horizons spacecraft pro be. It's a tiny one, because its diameter is worth only 2.5 kms (1.5 mile).It's shot by the multispectral visible imaging camera (MVTC) of the spacraft. The latter was on june 13rd, within rougly 102,000 kms (65,000 miles) of the tiny asteroid,& 273 millions kms (170 millions miles) away from earth, 368 millions kms (228 millions miles) away the sun. The spot below shows the asteroid at 3.36 millions kms (2.1 millions miles) away from the spacecraft, & looks like a dim star,while it's brighter at 1.34 millions kms (833,000 miles) away the spacecraft (the upper spot).
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann
Comet Schwassmann-WachmannLoading...
The comet Schwassmann-Wachmann was caught sight by the Spitzer Space Teles cope (SIRTF) out beyond the jovian planet. The 2 asteroids shot herewith are the smallest among all the main belt's ones. They're worth 2.8 kms for the first (1.7 mile) and 6 kms (3.7 miles) for the second.
Apophis asteroid 2004 MN4
The main asteroids belt
The main asteroids belt
The main asteroids beltLoading...
Between Mars & Jupiter rocky bodies rotate around the sun, orbiting a circumsolar disk at 2.7 times the distance which seperates the sun from the Earth (in AU, i.e, astronomical units). They're denoted as asteroids which sometimes have the size of a tiny planet or dwarf planet, otherwise planetoid. 2 largest among them,Ceres & Vesta weigh the third of all the belt's asteroids combined. Ceres,largest asteroid known, orbits the sun once every 4.6 years at a distance of 414 millions kms (257 millions miles); its diameter's worth >930 - 970 kms< (>578 - 603 miles<). Ceres discovered on january 24th,1801, is referred as a dwarf planet in 2006,Vesta's the 2nd largest & massive. It's worth 530 kms (330 moles) of diameter. Observed by the Hubble space telescope (HST) between november 28th-december 1st,1994 at the same time with the Kekke observatory, it's located at 251 millions kms or 156 millions miles away from the Earth. Some others, e.g Juno & Pallas are smaller.On september 27th,2007, the asteroids belt probe named "Dawn mission" to explore it, & especially Ceres as well as Vesta has been successfully launched by Delta II.
Kara Kul meteorite craterLoading...
The Kara Kul meteorite crater is located in Tajikistan (Middle East Asia). It's worth 28 miles of diameter and less than 10 millions years old.
The New Horizon spacecraft zipped by Jupiter early this year, & making a closest pass on february 28, & used the gaseous planet considerable gravity to slingshot itself to Plato dwarf planet and being scheduled to reach the latter afterwards. It'll observe a lightning shrikes at Jupiter north pole as if related to a volcano activity of Io, a Jupiter moon on Ocober 9th.Rising 200 miles into space from the volcano Tsvashtar was an umbrella shaped of plume dust accompanying the eruption. The robotic probe of New Horizon is within 1,4 million miles of the jovian planet. So, by getting a boost from the latter's gravity, it will reduce 3 years off its trip to Pluto.
Wolfe Creek crater, Australia
Wolfe Creek meteorite craterLoading...
The Wolfe Creek meteorite crater is located in Australia. It is worth 0.544 miles of diameter and 300,000 years old.
Kara Kul crater, Tajikistan
Clearwater Lake twin craters, Quebec
Clearwater twin cratersLoading...
The Clearwater Lake twin craters are located in Quebec (Canada). They're worth 20 miles of diameter for the first crater, 13.7 miles of diameter for the second one, & roughly 290 millions years old.
A meteorite, or meteoroid, unlike the asteroid, comes from a meteor (commonly called "shooting star"). It's not a star at all, whereas, the debris of a comet. It is falling to earth, either separetely, or together (meteorite shower or meteorite sto rm). What exactly cause it? Often referred as a shooting star, it's a fragment, bit or snag of comet. At night it's visible to our eyes as quick streaks of light which're going through the atmosphere, travelling in the paths of comets, then entering in the earth's atmosphere. From where is coming its light? By the collision between a meteorite with air molecules, knocking away materials & stripping electrons from it so that produces a ram pressure which scorches when it enter th earth's atmosphe re. Most meteorites're destroyed during the process. Those that make the journey all the way to the ground are known as meteorites. If the meteorites fall together to the ground, they beget a meteorite shower (meteorite storm) which commonly occur every year, or so; a meteorite shower can be predicted right down the peak viewing hours often named by the constellation from which its meteors appear to fall from a point of this particuliar region of the sky. Brilliant meteorites are called "fire balls" & could weigh many pounds, some other will explode with a thunderous sound & take the denotation of "bolides". Trails of light could persist as long as 30 minutes, & couls reach roughly 60 - 70 kms per sec (35 - 55 mps), therefore in comparison with a shuttle's speed, they're almost 10 times faster! Each day there are roughly 4 billions of meteorites which fall to the earth. Some of them could be enormous, & greatly threaten our environment, such like those which fell to earth in the past, and hollowed very large as well as profound craters into the soil.
ANH N. Hub Author 4 years ago
All the four Jupiter's moons were discovered in 1610. The largest of them is surely Ganymede, whose name came from the Greek mythology which described it as a divine hero, a Trojan prince, whose homeland was the Troad. It's worth 5,262 kms of diameter ( roughly 3,280 miles). The second largers one which comes after is : Callisto which's worth 4,800 kms (roughly 3,000 miles) of diameter. Then there's: Io which's worth 3,642 kms (roughly 2,250 miles) of diameter and took its name from the Greek mythology also; Io was a nymph seduced by Zeus and because of jalousy, he transformed Io into a cloud & white heifer. It is the innermost moon; & the last, & tinest one is Europa which's worth 3,000 kms (roughly 1,700 miles) of diameter, according to the mythology itit was a phoenician woman of high lineage.