What is the significance of the Kirkwood gaps?
Specific regions in the asteroid belt where few asteroids are found. The Kirkwood gaps are believed to have formed as a consequence of gravitational interactions of asteroids with Jupiter, which resulted in the movement of the asteroids from within this area into another orbit, leaving the area sparsely populated.
How are Kirkwood gaps formed?
The Kirkwood gaps are the primal source of near-Earth asteroids. Collisions between asteroids have their orbits perturbed by the Yarkovsky effect, and as such, they drift into the Kirkwood gaps. Because of the Kirkwood gaps, some asteroids might completely exit the solar system.
Are there Meteroids in the asteroid belt?
Some of the debris from collisions can form meteoroids that enter the Earth’s atmosphere. Of the 50,000 meteorites found on Earth to date, 99.8 percent are believed to have originated in the asteroid belt.
What asteroids are found in the Kirkwood gaps?
All asteroids with orbital distances that form a simple ratio with that of Jupiter will be affected by such gravitational perturbations. Key Kirkwood gaps occur at the 2:1, 3:1, 5:2, and 7:3 orbital resonances, while major concentrations of asteroids are found at the 3:2 and 1:1 (Trojan asteroids) orbital resonances.
Where are Kirkwood gaps found?
asteroid belt
12.3 . Most of the asteroids are found in the asteroid belt that lies between 2.2 and 3.3 AU from the Sun, but here are very few asteroids at certain distances from the Sun. These Kirkwood gaps have orbital periods of 1/4, 1/3, 2/5, 3/7 and 1/2 of Jupiter’s orbital period.
Where are Kirkwood gaps?
A Kirkwood gap is a gap or dip in the distribution of the semi-major axes (or equivalently of the orbital periods) of the orbits of main-belt asteroids. They correspond to the locations of orbital resonances with Jupiter.
Where are Kirkwood gaps located?
Key Kirkwood gaps occur at the 2:1, 3:1, 5:2, and 7:3 orbital resonances, while major concentrations of asteroids are found at the 3:2 and 1:1 (Trojan asteroids) orbital resonances.
What would happen if half the moon was destroyed?
Destroying the Moon would send debris to Earth, but it might not be life-exterminating. If the blast were weak enough, the debris would re-form into one or more new moons; if it were too strong, there would be nothing left; of just the right magnitude, and it would create a ringed system around Earth.