Asteroids

[nick c]

It seems to me most likely this quiescent body moved/blundered into a strong EU circuit, most likely solar-planetary. The Usual Suspects would be the gas giant planets and the Sun. So begs the question where were they all in alignment at the precise moment this asteroid became a comet (with its tails, hah)?

Agreed. In the EU model, this asteroid probably passed through a region where the electrical environment changed. That is, it ran through a current from the Sun. "Alignments" with gas giants would not be a simple matter as the heliospheric current sheet involves curves and arcs which change with the solar cycle, ie - the so called 'ballerina skirt' structure. so looking for straight line alignments may not be a fruitful endeavor.

Solar Wind
Figure 1.30: Heliospheric current sheet: flapping in different phases of the solar cycle.

[justcurious]

Also there can be random plasma ejecta from the sun such as CMEs, the asteroid could have encountered a blob of differing electrical environment. It doesn't seem that the solar wind and environment in the solar system is very homogenous. Could even be stuff entering from outside the solar system for all we know. We regularly see comet tails turn on and off all the time at seemingly random times.

[Sparky]

Where's the gravity effect. Pieces floating off! There should be a accretion to all asteroids...

[4realScience]

nick c wrote:

That tracing currents <across the wave-warped solar-disc > between the Gas Giants and the Sun would be hard. Hard to know cause -and effect, later. (Good graphics and good observation, Nick).

Asteroid-splitter currents twixt Sun and planets, never-the-less, they should be traceable with the right equipment and theory. I have a sneaking suspicion these currents can cause asteroid break-ups (since we have now seen some) (last one was an X-formation deemed a recent collision) on a fairly frequent, as opposed to cosmological, time-scale.

[Dotini]

http://aerospace.firetrench.com/2014/03 ... like-body/

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... 3510966%2F

[seasmith]

~
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) article, with contacts:

http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1410/



If it follows the apparent pattern of other 'ringed' bodies in the solar system, there would be an implied equatorial, or magnetic polar alignment with the sun.

[Shelgeyr]

I have no trouble with the concept that Chariklo carries a charge. I would love some hard evidence, of course, but my default assumption is that ALL objects in space carry some sort of charge, and move through a conductive medium. I certainly can't claim to have predicted Chariklo's rings - I didn't (duh) - but I also can't say I'm surprised we've apparently stumbled across the phenomenon.

[Dotini]

Rings are not terribly well understood, except that they appear on Saturn, and to a much lesser extent, on Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. And moons are thought to be necessary for them to form. Rings are also thought to be primordial material, and to eventually resolve into moons. Saturn would appear to be a lot less primordial than the others, since its rings haven't resolved. So what is a supposedly primordial object, a centaur, doing with vibrant rings?? Probably the rings, and maybe Chariklo itself, are not primordial.

[justcurious]

Hi,

These Russian dashcam videos are all over the internet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v4cvJjQKwg

Do fireballs like Russia for some reason? Or is it just a coincidence, or maybe Russians have more dashcams (never saw one here in Canada other than the police) and their fireballs show up on youtube more often?
In anycase, the videos are pretty impressive, they look a lot like Chelyabinsk last year but probably exploded much higher or in remote areas causing little or no damage. I can imagine what our ancestors saw in the skies if such relatively small objects provide for these dramatic visual effects.

[Sparky]

This video has been removed by the user.

[viscount aero]

That was a big one. And it had the characteristic 2 big/1 small flare ups as it entered Earth's atmosphere. I wish there were footage of it with audio. I'd like to know what it sounded like.

Try this:

http://rt.com/news/meteorite-murmansk-e ... space-588/

Spectacular fireball from space explodes over Russian city

Published time: April 19, 2014 13:46
Edited time: April 20, 2014 08:42

A suspected meteorite explosion has been recorded by citizens of the northern Russian city of Murmansk.

Multiple drivers with dashcams out on the streets of the 300,000-people city at 2.10am on Saturday noticed a bright blue trail speed across the night sky, then explode while still in the air.

Most observers identified the object as a meteorite, though officials have neither confirmed it nor said where the fragments are likely to have landed. Others speculated that the object may have been space debris, re-entering the atmosphere.

Emergency services say there were no injuries as a result of the astral event.

While tens of tons of cosmic dust reaches the Earth’s atmosphere each day, the number of meteorites that reach the surface may be about 500 a year, though most are small, and scientists do not have a precise calculation.

The most spectacular meteorite of recent years was over the Urals city of Chelyabinsk last year, when an astral body exploded in the sky with the strength of 40 Hiroshima bombs, temporarily blinding and deafening hundreds of people below.

[justcurious]

This video has been removed by the user.

Works for me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v4cvJjQKwg

[Metryq]

Do fireballs like Russia for some reason? Or is it just a coincidence, or maybe Russians have more dashcams

I've read that the reason for the widespread use of dashcams is due to insurance fraud. YouTube is loaded with some pretty spectacular accidents caught on those dashcams—many of them so startling that you wouldn't believe the stories without the footage. (e.g. The driver of a small truck flying through the windscreen and landing safely on his feet, even as the cab of his truck is smashed.)

So, no, these fireballs are not like all the tabloid reports of UFOs showing up in Soviet Russia because it would be impossible for anyone to validate the stories.

[viscount aero]

Do fireballs like Russia for some reason? Or is it just a coincidence, or maybe Russians have more dashcams

I've read that the reason for the widespread use of dashcams is due to insurance fraud.

Correct.

If you record more things in life then you will have a record of more things including meteors whose visits are most often unrecorded visually. But that is now changing. As more things are recorded then more things will be shown to exist.

[nick c]

In the EU the distinction between asteroids and comets is more of a description of the object's electrical state.
When Asteroids Become Comets