Scientists eagerly watch Jupiter
NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists are scrambling to
take advantage of an unprecedented opportunity:
the chance to watch a planet get bombarded by
large chunks of a comet.
IJp to 21 pieces of the comet will plunge one by
one into Jupiter next July, and they may signal
their doom with brilliant flashes and huge fire
balls. some scientists predict.
The impacts may even produce some now
storms on Jupiter like the planet's Croat Red Spot
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime deal” for scientists who
study planets, said H. Jay Melosh. professor of
planetary science at the University of Arizona.
"You're poking at Jupiter and seeing what it will
do."
Not all scientists believe the outcome will be so
dramatic, but many researchers are enthusiastic.
When Melosh convened a "Pre-Crash Bash" work
shop in August on just two week's notice, a star
tling 120 scientists dropped everything to show
up. And scientists are already planning studies
from observatories worldwide and the orbiting
Hubble Space Telescope.
“Every piece of glass on Earth or around Earth is
going to be pointed at Jupiter next year." said Tor
rence Johnson, chief scientist for the Galileo space
probe project, which he hopes will also get in on
the action.
Scientists have never had a chance to watch a
planet get hit by meteorites, let alone had so much
lead time. Some comet fragments might pack more
punch than anything that has struck Earth since
humans appeared.
Observers on Earth will not see the impacts
directly because they will occur on the far side of
lupiter. But the Galileo spacecraft, launched in
1989 and now well beyond the orbit of Mars, will
be in position to watch.
"We're going to do our darnedest" to find mon
ey and time to arrange for observations, Johnson
said.
Scientists are also investigating the possibility of
reactivating cameras on Voyager 2 to sense light
from the impacts, he said. That spacecraft,
launched in 1977, is now sailing beyond all the
known planets but could look hack toward Jupiter
from about 40 times the distance between Earth
and the sun.
In any case, earthhound telescopes will not bo
entirely shut out. With luck, they may be able to
detect the initial flash and later fireball if the light
reflects off Jupiter's moons, scientists say. The
impact sites will become visible from Earth a few
hours after the crashes as Jupiter spins on its axis.
And some of the most interesting effects of the
crashes will occur away from the impact sites any
way, scientists say.
The excitement comes from Comet Shoemaker
Levy 9, discovered last March and nicknamed the
"string of pearls" comet for the way its fragments
are spread out. The comet had been ripped apart
by Jupiter's huge gravitational pull.
The fragments are now orbiting Jupiter, and sci
entists have calculated that they will plunge into
tin- planet over about six days in the latter half of
‘Every piece of glass on Earth
or around Earth Is going to be
pointed at Jupiter next year,\*
— Torrence Johnson.
Galileo space probe project
July
The size of the fragments is not clear, but current
estimates for the biggest ones range from about a
half-mile wide to less than three mile* wide They
are expected to begin their plunge into Jupiter at
a speed of about 37 miles per second, which even
by astronomical standards is very fast.
They will not strike any hard surface because
Jupiter is a gaseous ball only a little more dense
than water, on average
But as the chunks race at tremendous speed
through progressively denser gas, they will crum
ble in perhaps 10 seconds or so, scientists say. At
the same time, their energy will make the gas hot
enough to form a fireball that rises hock into
Jupiter's atmosphere, researchers say.
Not everyone expects such a dramatic event. Bri
an Morsden, associate director for planetary sci
ences at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics, said he believes Jupiter's gravity will
further break up the comet chunks until they are
quite small before they strike tho planet
"We could be dealing with just a stream of
dust," he said.
Scientists should watch for effects of the
impacts, he said, but "I really would not be sur
prised if we don’t notice anything at all."
Still, scientists who are betting on substantial
impacts say the event could teach a lot about
Jupiter:
• Substances now hidden under the planet's
ammonia clouds might lie blown into view, shed
ding light on Jupiter's inner chemistry.
• Seismic waves that travel through the planet
might tell about the composition and structure of
its interior.
• Clouds that form after the impacts might
reveal high-altitude circulation in Jupiter's atmos
phere.
• Energy waves spreading from the impacts
could tell about the structure and stability of
Jupiter's atmospheric layers.
• Other observations could shed light on the
planet's dozen jet streams.
• Outside the atmosphere, thin clouds of dust
from the comet chunks might help scientists map
Jupiter's magnetic field.
Unfortunately, effects of the impacts will proba
bly not be visible to amateur astronomers, said
astronomy Professor Michael A'Hearn of the Uni
versity of Maryland.
If tiiev have a good enough telescope to see
Jupiter's cloud structure now, "there's a chance
that they may see something." he said, "but they
probably will not
MUM'MEjnBf
this paper] )
FALL
CLEARANCE
ON!
GOING FAST!
AT UNBELIEVABLE PRICES!
CHAMPION, J & M, TAURUS, CLASSIC SPORTSWEAR
U of O GIFTS, SOUVENIRS and MORE!
720 East 13th Ave.
In ttva University Center Budding
Across from Sacred Heart Hospital
SALE LMATED TO STOCK ON NANO
cculcnis
Make sure
you’re covered!
• Check Out Student
Health Insurance
• Additional Catastrophic
Coverage
Enrollment Period
Sept. 20-Oct. 8
Student Health Center
Room 101 • M6-)702
We’ve Got What
It Takes
To make a dorm room or
apartment feel like home
even on a tight budget1
• Healthy plants
• Ceramic pots .
• Baskets
• Gardening accessories
10% off all plants
with current student 1 D
Sept thru Oct 93
OPEK 7 DAYS
A WEEK
1 I
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Predoctoral Fellowships in
Biological Sciences
lfMM < ompHition
IK) f<'!lmv\hi[>'. will hr iwardrd fur full linn- s(tid\ low aril the
I’li l> or N< l> di'Hiw in i i-ll lihiloR. and regulation, grind Ira,
immunology, iii'iirnM li nn', itrutrlural bkibny. biosutistii.s,
epidemiology, '>r mathematical biology
Fellowship Terms
■ Three M ar imtla! awards
with two year extension
possible
Eligibility
■ I ess than i»in- >1.11 of ini'.!
Ii.ii i alaureate liroduule
stud) 111 tilu|ii(J,
colii'ltc seniors.
first year gradual)* students;
MS. DO, l».U.S,l>.V M
students or professionals
Schedule
■ Application deadline
November a, 1IKM
■ Awards announced
earls April I9M
■ $14,1X10 annual stipend
■ $12,700annual rust of
edtualion allowance
■ If an M liyi’li 1) student
nut in a funded program
■ No citizenship rwjuirement.s:
I S. citizens ma\ stud>
abroad.
others must stud) in the
I nited States
■ Fellowships start
June IWH4 January 1995
For Program Announcement#, Eligibility
Guideline#, and Application#
Hughes Prmioclorai Fellowships
National Research Council Fellowship Office
2101 Constitution Avenue
Washington, IK' 2tMIH
Telephone (202)3lt42K72
The Itowaol Hughes MeOual InsOlute wlromn applii aliens tnmi all (|ualifi<sl
1 andstaies .uni t*(w oarages women amt members .>f mimirily groups to ap(>h
l