Jupiter Plays A Hoax!

jup The biggest planet of our solar system, Jupiter surprised scientists with a cosmic prank: it released one of its moons that turned out to be nothing more than a filched comet 12 years after it first appeared on the celestial map as Jupiter’s “moon”.

At the meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam, Germany, it was announced that after snatching a passing-by comet between 1949 and 1961, named 147P/Kushida-Muramatsu, and keeping it orbiting around itself for 12 years, Jupiter finally released it, as reported by astronomers on Monday, the 14th of September, 2009.

The gigantic planet, Jupiter, has 63 confirmed moons, or satellites, which can be divided into regular and irregular satellites. The largest of all the moons, the four Galilean moons, were discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610 as the first observed orbiting objects around a body other than the Sun or the Earth. These moons are spheroidal in shape. A total of 8 moons are regular satellites, with prograde and almost circular orbits. Around 54 or 55 moons are irregular satellites, tiny, and having prograde and retrograde orbits with eccentric orbital paths. The little Jovian moons have been named after the conquests, lovers, or daughters of the Roman and Greek gods.

Comets wander through space at their own leisurely pace, at times taking decades or even centuries to orbit around the Sun. Rarely, when they pass very close to some planet, they might be sucked into its orbit due to the gravitational pull. This can result in the comet crashing into the planet, or circling around it till it manages to free itself.

In 1994, Jupiter attracted a comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9, which fragmented, smashing into the planet.

According to a press release, 147P/Kushida-Muramatsu is the fifth identified captured comet to date.

A comet consists of a nucleus, a fuzzy atmosphere, and sometimes a tail. The nucleus consists of ice, dust, and rocky particles, while the atmosphere and the tail can have dust and water vapours due to the effects of Sun’s radiations on the nucleus.

Kushida-Muramatsu completed two orbits around Jupiter before it wrenched itself free from its grip, as calculated by study leader Katsuhito Ohtsuka of the Tokyo Meteor Network. This study will prove beneficial in understanding the workings and risks of cometary orbits and impacts as it relates to the Earth. The natural history of the Earth has already witnessed one devastating collision of an asteroid with Earth’s surface some 65 million years ago, a possible cause of the wiping out of the dinosaur population forever from the planet.

Jupiter acts as a sponge in the cosmos, absorbing the impact of wandering comets and asteroids and preventing Earth from experiencing the shocks and its endangerment. However, it can also result in their course deflection, thus propelling them towards Earth. This study will help scientists better understand the mechanics of such functions of the colossal planet.