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A small, polar-orbiting moon

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Bill Bogen - 17 Oct 2003 12:29 GMT
I'd like input from all you orbital mechanics out there as to this
concept's feasibility:

What if sometime in prehistory, the Earth had captured a Near Earth
Orbit asteroid, say 10 km in diameter, into a nice circular 20310.8
kilometer polar orbit?

So every 8 hours the Moon2, let's call it 'Cynthia' [derives from
'woman from Kynthos', a reference to Artemis, sister of Apollo and
Greek goddess of the Moon, who was reputed to have been born on the
mountain of Kynthos]
rises from either the Northerly horizon or the Southerly and, in
about 3 hours or less, sinks below the opposite horizon.  The ancients
would quickly figure out the regular patterns of its orbit and how to
use it to determine longitude (using only the local time of day; no
accurate clocks synchronized to Greenwich time needed).  Accurate maps
would appear early.  The apparent size of Cynthia would be only about
1/12 that of Moon1 (Luna) and would vary by about 5%, depending on the
time and place of the observer.  The size variation would let the
ancients determine the distance to Cynthia and start giving a sense of
the scale of the solar system.  The ancients would probably deduce
that Cynthia was brighter (relative to size) than Luna because it's
closer to Earth.  So they'd estimate the distance to Luna and, when
they compared the orbital periods of the two moons, would derive the
gravitational inverse-square law centuries earlier than OTL.  Eclipses
(solar transits, really) would happen often, encouraging study of the
Sun's surface (maybe using camera obscura, really big pinhole camera
minus film).  Cynthia often being 25 times closer to us than is Luna,
naked-eye observation would show craters and such on Cynthia, an early
intro to Galilean ideas of imperfect heavenly bodies or, better yet,
the idea of other planets and moons being actual places, that is,
destinations.

There is some question as to how bright Cynthia would be.  I'd
appreciate any critiques of the following analysis:

… 1) For the non-astronomers out there, the brightness of
celestial bodies/stars/whatever is given as 'visual magnitude'.  For
some reason, early astronomers defined that an object of magnitude 1
was 100 times brighter than an object of magnitude 6.  So an object of
mag 1 would be 2.512 times brighter than an object of mag 2 because
2.512^(6-1)=100 and 2.512^(2-1)=2.512.  Setting magnitudes was an
attempt to compare the brightness of stars but later really bright
objects were assigned magnitudes as well.  For example, Luna has a
magnitude of -12.5 (brighter objects have larger negative numbers).

2) Let's wave our hand and make Luna (diameter 3476 km) disappear and
be replaced by Cynthia (diameter 10km).  The area, and so the amount
of light reflected, has shrunk to (10/3476)^2 or 0.000008276 of its
former value.  Its magnitude has changed by 12.7, meaning it's dimmer
by 2.512^12.7 times.  Its magnitude is now 0.2 (-12.5+12.7), like a
really bright star but still not visible in full daylight.

3) Now let's move Cynthia closer to Earth.  At closest, Luna is about
378028 km from an observer on Earth, while Cynthia would be about
13938.8 km away, 27.12 times closer.  So it's brighter by a factor of
735.5 (27.12^2) due to the inverse square law.  This produces a change
in magnitude of -7.2 (2.512^7.2~735.5) so Cynthia, at best, would have
a magnitude of -7.0 (-7.2+0.2).

4) By comparison, Venus can have a magnitude of -4.9 while Luna, as I
mentioned before, has a magnitude of -12.5.  So Venus < Cynthia <
Luna.

5) From sci.astronomy.amateur, "The Great Comet of 1744 reached -7.0
magnitude and was visible 12 degrees from the Sun in broad daylight."

So I think Cynthia would often be visible during the day and available
for use in navigation.

My greatest concern is whether/how long Cynthia might maintain a
stable, circular polar orbit.  Would the influence of Luna disrupt her
orbit?  I assume the orbit would precess but how fast?  Would the
precession be at a constant rate, one that ancients could include in
their tables/calculations?  Is it even possible for a Near Earth
Asteroid to take up a circular orbit around Earth?

Thanks in advance for any input.
Mike Miller - 20 Oct 2003 12:29 GMT
> I'd like input from all you orbital mechanics out there as to this
> concept's feasibility:
>
> What if sometime in prehistory, the Earth had captured a Near Earth
> Orbit asteroid, say 10 km in diameter, into a nice circular 20310.8
> kilometer polar orbit?

I'm guessing the probabilities are slim to none, but then, Earth's
past record with moons involves some pretty slim probabilities. :)

The reasons for the low probability of capture (as I know'em):

1) Virtually everything in the Inner System (starting at Pluto and
working in) has settled down into a single plane, give or take a few
degrees. It is very improbable that anything in Earth's neighborhood
would be approaching from a steep angle to end up in a polar orbit.

2) Earth already has a big, jealous companion. I'm not sure Cynthia
could settle down into a circular orbit (it wouldn't be circular to
begin with) before Luna destabilized Cynthia's orbit to intersect
Earth, Luna, or ejected it from the area all together. I'd put my
money on "intersect Earth."

Interesting concept for accelerating early astronomical theories,
though.

Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Henry Spencer - 24 Oct 2003 04:23 GMT
>1) Virtually everything in the Inner System (starting at Pluto and
>working in) has settled down into a single plane, give or take a few
>degrees. It is very improbable that anything in Earth's neighborhood
>would be approaching from a steep angle to end up in a polar orbit.

It doesn't have to approach from a steep angle.  You can't ignore Earth's
motion around the Sun when thinking about such things.  The incoming
object only has to pass Earth a few tens of thousands of kilometers to
(say) the north, and then lose some velocity while there.  To pass, say,
50,000km north of Earth, the inclination of its orbit needs to be only
about 0.02deg -- remember, all this is happening 150Mkm from the Sun, so
the angle between the orbits needed to get 50,000km difference is very
small.

It's the "lose some velocity" part that's hard.

The Earth *can* capture objects from heliocentric orbit, as witness the
temporary capture of object J002E3 (which is almost certainly Apollo 12's
S-IVB!) last year.  But as witness that case, the resulting orbits tend to
be very large -- well beyond the Moon's -- and rather precarious (J002E3
is gone into solar orbit again).

>2) Earth already has a big, jealous companion. I'm not sure Cynthia
>could settle down into a circular orbit (it wouldn't be circular to
>begin with) before Luna destabilized Cynthia's orbit to intersect
>Earth, Luna, or ejected it from the area all together. I'd put my
>money on "intersect Earth."

Most likely is to eject it, in fact:  both Earth and Moon are rather small
targets, in the celestial scheme of things, and a near-miss that changes
your path into an escape trajectory is much more likely than an actual
collision.

In general, three-body systems which are not "hierarchical" -- one close
pair plus a distant third -- over time have a strong tendency to lose one
body by ejection.
Signature

MOST launched 30 June; first light, 29 July; 5arcsec    | Henry Spencer
pointing, 10 Sept; first science, early Oct; all well.  | henry@spsystems.net

Bill Bogen - 25 Oct 2003 02:31 GMT
> >1) Virtually everything in the Inner System (starting at Pluto and
> >working in) has settled down into a single plane, give or take a few
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> be very large -- well beyond the Moon's -- and rather precarious (J002E3
> is gone into solar orbit again).

But an object _could_ (very small chance, I admit) be in heliocentric
orbit and yet pass over the Earth at just the right speed to enter a
circular polar orbit at 20310.8 km radius, could it not?  Without
having to shed any velocity at all?  (I feel like a cross-examining
attorney;"You admit that my client _could_ have been carrying that
plutonium for perfectly innocent reasons?")

> >2) Earth already has a big, jealous companion. I'm not sure Cynthia
> >could settle down into a circular orbit (it wouldn't be circular to
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> pair plus a distant third -- over time have a strong tendency to lose one
> body by ejection.

And yet Jupiter has a number of moons in pretty stable orbits, over
millenia.
Dave Empey - 26 Oct 2003 22:26 GMT
> But an object _could_ (very small chance, I admit) be in heliocentric
> orbit and yet pass over the Earth at just the right speed to enter a
> circular polar orbit at 20310.8 km radius, could it not?  Without
> having to shed any velocity at all?  

I don't think so.  If the object is passing over the Earth at the
right speed to "enter" an orbit, it's already *in* orbit.  

To put it another way: Imagine filming this object and then running
the film backwards:  
you'd see an object in orbit around the Earth suddenly leave orbit
without gaining any velocity, which is impossible.  Since Newtonian
mechanics works the same whether time runs forwards or backwards, it
would also be impossible if you run the film forwards.  Therefore
entering orbit without shedding velocity is impossible.

Signature

Dave Empey

Bill Bogen - 27 Oct 2003 15:41 GMT
> > But an object _could_ (very small chance, I admit) be in heliocentric
> > orbit and yet pass over the Earth at just the right speed to enter a
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> would also be impossible if you run the film forwards.  Therefore
> entering orbit without shedding velocity is impossible.

How about entering orbit and _gaining_ velocity?  Aren't some moons of
Jupiter suspected to be captured asteroids?  How can a planet capture
an asteroid if the asteroid makes no velocity changes?  I'm proposing
that Cynthia is an asteroid/comet that is orbiting the Sun between the
orbits of Venus and Earth when it happens to pass near Earth, is
accelerated and captured in a circular orbit.
Gordon D. Pusch - 27 Oct 2003 22:20 GMT
>>> But an object _could_ (very small chance, I admit) be in heliocentric
>>> orbit and yet pass over the Earth at just the right speed to enter a
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> How about entering orbit and _gaining_ velocity?  

A.)  That would make it even more likely to escape;
B.)  What the heck do you think would it gain velocity _from_ ?!?

> Aren't some moons of Jupiter suspected to be captured asteroids?

Yes, but they aren't "permanent" moons. They are in highly eccentric orbits
near the edge of Jupoter's "sphere of influence" (the rather non-spherical
region in which Jupiter's gravity dominates the Sun's, which is bounded
by a surface known as the "separatorix" that passes through L1 and L2),
and eventually, they will re-escape.

> How can a planet capture an asteroid if the asteroid makes no velocity
> changes?

Jupiter is on a slightly eccentric orbit, which means that the size of its
"sphere of influence" varies depending on how far it instantaneously is
from the sun. The "captured" moons have orbital periods on the order
of a terrestrial _year_; they were "captured" because they passed just
inside L1 or L2 on a trajectory almost alone the separatrix; by the time
they got back to the separatrix, it had expaned slightly, "trapping" them
on highly eccentric, precessing orbits. Eventually, they will again happen
to have an apojove close to L1 or L2 at a time when the separatrix is small,
and they will escape.

> I'm proposing that Cynthia is an asteroid/comet that is orbiting the Sun
> between the orbits of Venus and Earth when it happens to pass near Earth,
> is accelerated and captured in a circular orbit.

orbital mechanics doesn't work that way. It will have to interact with
something, such as the Earth's atmosphere of via tidal friction to become
"trapped;" this will leaving it in a highly eccentric orbit, that will
require further interactions to circularize it so that it does not simply
continue to lose energy via atmospheric or tidal friction and come crashing
down to leave a large, hot, ecosphere-destroying hole in the ground.

-- Gordon D. Pusch  

perl -e '$_ = "gdpusch\@NO.xnet.SPAM.com\n"; s/NO\.//; s/SPAM\.//; print;'
Henry Spencer - 26 Oct 2003 22:53 GMT
>> It's the "lose some velocity" part that's hard...
>
>But an object _could_ (very small chance, I admit) be in heliocentric
>orbit and yet pass over the Earth at just the right speed to enter a
>circular polar orbit at 20310.8 km radius, could it not?

Unfortunately, no, because Earth's gravity will accelerate it as it
approaches.  If it arrives from infinity, its speed must be at least
escape velocity (for that distance), which is about 1.4x circular-orbit
velocity.

The only exception to this, which is what got J002E3 captured temporarily,
is if the whole thing is happening at the outer fringes of Earth's sphere
of influence, where the Sun's gravity is quite significant and three-body
complications invalidate simple concepts like "escape velocity".  But
that's out around 900000km radius.

(Oh, there's one other exception, if it chances to make a lunar flyby
that robs it of some energy.  But that will necessarily leave it in an
orbit that goes out, at least, nearly to the Moon's orbit.)

>> In general, three-body systems which are not "hierarchical" -- one close
>> pair plus a distant third -- over time have a strong tendency to lose one
>> body by ejection.
>
>And yet Jupiter has a number of moons in pretty stable orbits, over
>millenia.

Those cases are not really three-body systems, because Jupiter dominates
the situation so overwhelmingly.  Interactions between the moons are minor
by comparison.  (Sometimes they are non-trivial -- e.g. the resonance with
Europa and Ganymede that maintains the slight eccentricity of Io's orbit
and hence its internal tidal heating -- but not to the extent of actually
altering another moon's orbit substantially.)
Signature

MOST launched 30 June; first light, 29 July; 5arcsec    | Henry Spencer
pointing, 10 Sept; first science, early Oct; all well.  | henry@spsystems.net

Bill Bogen - 27 Oct 2003 13:28 GMT
> >> It's the "lose some velocity" part that's hard...
> >
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> escape velocity (for that distance), which is about 1.4x circular-orbit
> velocity.

So it doesn't arrive from infinity but rather from an orbit closer to
the Sun so Earth accelerates it to just the right velocity for a
circular polar orbit.

>snip<
> >> In general, three-body systems which are not "hierarchical" -- one close
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> and hence its internal tidal heating -- but not to the extent of actually
> altering another moon's orbit substantially.)

But if Cynthia is 25 times closer to the Earth than to Luna, wouldn't
Earth's influenece overwhelm Luna's?
Gordon D. Pusch - 27 Oct 2003 21:56 GMT
>>>> It's the "lose some velocity" part that's hard...
>>>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> the Sun so Earth accelerates it to just the right velocity for a
> circular polar orbit.

Orbital mechanics doesn't work that way. If it did, then as others have noted,
it would also be equally possible for polar satellites to spontaneously jump
into the corresponding outbound trajectory, which one never observes to happen
(unless the object fires a kick-motor).

Your only hope is for your "Cynthia" (or part of it) to lose energy somehow,
e.g., by making a pass through the atmosphere, or via tidal friction.
The former option requires an additional interaction with some other body
to raise "Cynthia's" perigee out of Earth's atmosphere to prevent subsequent
passages from de-orbiting it entirely. The latter option is not likely to
work in a single pass unless "Cynthia" is tidally disrupted into fragments,
some of which are moving at less than escape velocity relative to the Earth.
This is _barely_ possible if "Cynthia" is a highly elongated object whose
center of mass is moving moving almost _exactly_ at escape velocity, so that
the "inboard" fragments are moving at _just_ under escape velocity, while
the "outboard" fragments are moving at a bit over escape velocity. This
rather unlikely and rube-goldbergian situation will leave _parts_ of
"Cynthia" in a belt of highly excentric orbits --- but the fact that
"Cynthia" (and therefore its remaining fragments) must necessarily
have had a perigee inside Roche's Limit in order for tidal disruption
to have occurred makes it extremely unlikely that the fragments that remain
in orbit about the Earth will re-accrete into a single body. Most likely,
you will be left with a large number of fragments in highly eccentric orbits
that will gradually pulverize each other to dust.

-- Gordon D. Pusch  

perl -e '$_ = "gdpusch\@NO.xnet.SPAM.com\n"; s/NO\.//; s/SPAM\.//; print;'
Gary Coffman - 26 Oct 2003 22:57 GMT
>And yet Jupiter has a number of moons in pretty stable orbits, over
>millenia.

So does the Sun, but that's because the parent body is *much* larger
than the satellites. So the gravitational effects of the small bodies on
each other are much smaller than the gravitational effect of the parent.

OTOH, Earth-Moon almost has to be treated as a double planet. Any
third body in their near vicinity will be influenced more or less strongly
by both of the other bodies. That's a much more complicated situation.

Gary
Bill Bogen - 27 Oct 2003 15:47 GMT
> >And yet Jupiter has a number of moons in pretty stable orbits, over
> >millenia.
>
> So does the Sun, but that's because the parent body is *much* larger
> than the satellites. So the gravitational effects of the small bodies on
> each other are much smaller than the gravitational effect of the parent.

But Earth masses about 81 times Luna and Cynthia will be about 25
times closer to Earth than Luna so the Earth's influence over Cynthia
should be about 50,000 [81*25*25] times that of Luna, no?  Are the
orbits of polar-orbiting artificial satellites disrupted by Luna?
Maybe Luna would simply cause Cynthia's orbit to precess?
Henry Spencer - 27 Oct 2003 17:25 GMT
>OTOH, Earth-Moon almost has to be treated as a double planet. Any
>third body in their near vicinity will be influenced more or less strongly
>by both of the other bodies. That's a much more complicated situation.

Depends on the time scale.  On a short time scale, you can pretty much
ignore the Moon unless your path takes you quite close to it.  It's only
1/80th the mass of Earth, after all.  Longer term, yes, it definitely
matters, e.g. it affects geostationary comsats' orbits despite it being
ten times farther out than they are.
Signature

MOST launched 30 June; first light, 29 July; 5arcsec    | Henry Spencer
pointing, 10 Sept; first science, early Oct; all well.  | henry@spsystems.net

Jake McGuire - 27 Oct 2003 07:14 GMT
> But an object _could_ (very small chance, I admit) be in heliocentric
> orbit and yet pass over the Earth at just the right speed to enter a
> circular polar orbit at 20310.8 km radius, could it not?  Without
> having to shed any velocity at all?  (I feel like a cross-examining
> attorney;"You admit that my client _could_ have been carrying that
> plutonium for perfectly innocent reasons?")

No.

Orbits run backwards more or less as well as they run forwards.  So if
something is now in a circular orbit at 20310.8 km radius, if time is
reversed it's not going to go flying back out into interplanetary
space - it'll still be in a circular orbit.

With close flybys in 3-body systems you can either eject or capture
something, but that's not the situation you're describing.

-jake
Bill Bogen - 27 Oct 2003 15:52 GMT
> > But an object _could_ (very small chance, I admit) be in heliocentric
> > orbit and yet pass over the Earth at just the right speed to enter a
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> reversed it's not going to go flying back out into interplanetary
> space - it'll still be in a circular orbit.

Doesn't entropy enter into it?  Cynthia would steal some energy from
Earth and speed up as it falls into circular orbit.  Doesn't entropy
dictate that we can't just run the tape backwards?  If we run my car
backwards, the flies aren't going to jump off the windshield and take
flight! (Admittedly lame analogy).
Gordon D. Pusch - 27 Oct 2003 22:35 GMT
>>> But an object _could_ (very small chance, I admit) be in heliocentric
>>> orbit and yet pass over the Earth at just the right speed to enter a
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> Doesn't entropy enter into it?  Cynthia would steal some energy from
> Earth and speed up as it falls into circular orbit.  

Neither Entropy nor Conservation of Energy work that way. "Cynthia" doesn't
"steal" energy. The Earth / "Cynthia" system _HAS_ a certain amount of
total energy, which is conserved; because gravity is a pairwise interaction,
that total energy can't be attributed solely to either Earth or "Cynthia,"
but only to the system as a whole.

> Doesn't entropy dictate that we can't just run the tape backwards?  

Only if friction or other dissipative forces are important. Why do you
expect your "Cynthia" to run into "friction" ???

> If we run my car backwards, the flies aren't going to jump off the
> windshield and take flight! (Admittedly lame analogy).

Indeed it is VERY lame.

A much better analogy is: Someone throws a superduperball (tm) at your windshield,
and it bounces off. Because a superduperball (tm) is extremely elastic, energy
is almost perfectly conserved during this collision. Because energy is almost
perfectly conserved in this collision, it is virtually impossible to determine
whether you are watching the film "forwards" or "backwards," solely from observing
the collision.

Now: Gravitational collisons are even =MORE= "elastic" than any "superduperball"
could ever possibly be. Absent some other dissipative force, such as atmospheric
or tidal friction, any purely gravitational trajectory is perfectly reversible.

-- Gordon D. Pusch  

perl -e '$_ = "gdpusch\@NO.xnet.SPAM.com\n"; s/NO\.//; s/SPAM\.//; print;'
Bill Bogen - 30 Oct 2003 14:01 GMT
> >>> But an object _could_ (very small chance, I admit) be in heliocentric
> >>> orbit and yet pass over the Earth at just the right speed to enter a
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> that total energy can't be attributed solely to either Earth or "Cynthia,"
> but only to the system as a whole.

So the sum of Earth+Cynthia energy is constant (actually
Earth+Cynthia+Luna) but that doesn't mean Cynthia's energy can't
increase at the expense of Earth's.  Ex; when a probe swings around
Jupiter to take advantage of the 'slingshot effect', is it not
speeding up while Jupiter is slowing down infinitesimally?

> > Doesn't entropy dictate that we can't just run the tape backwards?  
>
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> could ever possibly be. Absent some other dissipative force, such as atmospheric
> or tidal friction, any purely gravitational trajectory is perfectly reversible.

OK, I think it's finally gotten through to me: Cynthia needs a
mechanism to change her velocity as she approaches Earth orbit.  I'd
rather not use aerobraking because it doesn't eventually raise her
perigee to a circular orbit.  So, Cynthia is a regolith-covered comet
that somehow found itself in a Aten-esque orbit (within the Earth's
orbit around the Sun), an orbit that just reaches the Earth.  Cynthia
happens to vent at just the right times and in just the right
directions to circularize it's orbit around Earth.
David M. Palmer - 28 Oct 2003 05:05 GMT
> With close flybys in 3-body systems you can either eject or capture
> something, but that's not the situation you're describing.

If Cynthia originally had a sister, a double asteroid like Hermes was
just found to be, then you have a three-body system that might allow
capture.  It would take the same hand-of-god that placed Luna at just
the right size and distance to give us nice solar eclipses, but it's
possible.

Especially with an aerobrake to bleed off some energy, then the second
component circularizes Cynthia's orbit before being flung into the
utterdark.  (A single asteroid aerobraking gives an orbit that passes
inside the atmosphere on subsequent passes, which quickly leads to
lithocapture and a nice iridium layer for the next intelligent species
to find.)

Of course, the protagonist realizes this after single-handedly
recapitulating the works of Galileo, Newton, Halley etc. from our time
line to develop orbital mechanics, Percival Lowell to find the cast off
sister, Shoemaker to discover that it will hit Earth in 3 years,
Goddard, Tsiolkovskii and Korolev to build a rocket, Oppenheimer and
the  gang for the payload, and Bruce Willis to get the box office.

Bogen:
> Luna will give off more light in total because it's larger but Cynthia
> is much closer so each solid angle measure (steradian?) should be
> brighter.  I think Cynthia will lokk like a brighter, fast moving
> Venus.

No, brightness per steradian depends on illumination (how far from the
Sun it is--the same as the Moon is, plus a bit of Earthshine) and how
reflective it is, but not on how far away it is.  (The inverse square
law, an approximation in this case, comes entirely from the solid angle
shrinking with distance.)  That's why a tree nearby doesn't burn your
eyes out while a tree-covered distant mountain is other than black.

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Iain McClatchie - 27 Oct 2003 21:58 GMT
Bill> But an object _could_ (very small chance, I admit) be in heliocentric
Bill> orbit and yet pass over the Earth at just the right speed to enter a
Bill> circular polar orbit at 20310.8 km radius, could it not?  Without
Bill> having to shed any velocity at all?

What you need is some plausible delta-v for this object that occurs well
above the atmosphere, closer than the moon.

Early in the development of the solar system.

How about two objects in heliocentric orbit collide while very close to
the earth?  Perhaps the two objects are a single object that broke up
during a first close encounter with earth, then passed on either side of
earth during a later encounter.  Doesn't have to happen in plane, but the
angles do have to be pretty wide.  It's not *likely*, of course.

The collision dumps a bunch of kinetic energy so that the resulting mass
does not have escape velocity.  It explodes, some bits get kicked out of
the earth-moon system, some bits enter the atmosphere, and some bits stay
in orbit.  One particularly big bit is more obvious than the rest.
Cynthia.  Over time it might even accrete the rest if it were made of,
say, particularly sticky green cheese.... :).
Joseph Hertzlinger - 26 Oct 2003 03:57 GMT
> The ancients would probably deduce that Cynthia was brighter
> (relative to size) than Luna because it's closer to Earth.

I thought the brighness is proportional to the solid angle.

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Bill Bogen - 27 Oct 2003 15:58 GMT
> > The ancients would probably deduce that Cynthia was brighter
> > (relative to size) than Luna because it's closer to Earth.
>
> I thought the brighness is proportional to the solid angle.

Luna will give off more light in total because it's larger but Cynthia
is much closer so each solid angle measure (steradian?) should be
brighter.  I think Cynthia will lokk like a brighter, fast moving
Venus.
Gordon D. Pusch - 27 Oct 2003 22:48 GMT
>>> The ancients would probably deduce that Cynthia was brighter
>>> (relative to size) than Luna because it's closer to Earth.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> brighter.  I think Cynthia will lokk like a brighter, fast moving
> Venus.

You have that exactly backwards. Both Luna an "Cynthia" are receiving the
same intensity of sunlight, so unless "Cynthia's" surface has a much higher
albedo than Luna's, they will reflect light with roughly equal intensity.
Hence, their surfaces will look about equally bright per unit solid angle.
How much _total_ light the reflect will depend on how large they are,
but not the amount of light per unit solid angle. "Cynthia" will only
appear "brighter" if it is highly reflective, or if it is so close that it
appears to subtend a larger solid angle than the moon. (Note that the latter
would be a Very Bad Thing, as that would imply it would be raising Huge Tides.)

-- Gordon D. Pusch  

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Bill Bogen - 30 Oct 2003 14:11 GMT
> >>> The ancients would probably deduce that Cynthia was brighter
> >>> (relative to size) than Luna because it's closer to Earth.
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> appears to subtend a larger solid angle than the moon. (Note that the latter
> would be a Very Bad Thing, as that would imply it would be raising Huge Tides.)

Yes, I was partially wrong: Luna and Cynthia are equally bright per
unit of solid angle.  Since Luna would appear about 12.6 times wider
than Cynthia, or 158.5 times the area, then Cynthia would only have a
magnitude (at best) of -7 as compared to Luna's -12.5.  But Venus has
a magnitude of only -4.9 (at best) so Cynthia, as I said, would like
like a brighter, fast moving Venus. It should often be visible in
daylight.
 
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