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Shoemaker-Levy 9 and the tidal disruption of comets

Author
Asphaug, E.
Published
JAN 1, 1994.
Physical Description
1 electronic document
Additional Creators
Benz, W.
Online Version

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Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available.
Free-to-read Unrestricted online access
Summary
The break-up of Periodic Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into multiple pieces following its grazing encounter with Jupiter in July 1992 can be used to study tidally-induced fracture in comets. This spectacular event allows us not only to set limits on the size, strength and density of Shoemaker-Levy 9 itself, but provides invaluable guidance to numerical modeling of such encounters. In an extensive treatment of tidal breakup which assumed self-gravitating, homogeneous, perfectly elastic bodies, Dobrovolskis derived simple analytical expressions for the tidally-induced surface and central stresses. Both can be cast in such a way that Poisson's ratio is the only material dependent constant entering these expressions. Whether both surface and central failure must be initiated as a criterion for breakup, or either one of them is sufficient, remains a subject of disagreement. To resolve this debate, we model the details of cometary breakup using a three-dimensional Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) code modified to simulate fracture in small solid objects. At lower stresses associated with brittle failure, we use a rate-dependent strength based on the nucleation of incipient flaws whose number density is given by a Weibull distribution.
Other Subject(s)
Collection
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Collection.
Note
Document ID: 19940030900.
Accession ID: 94N35406.
Lunar and Planetary Inst., The Twenty-Fifth Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Part 1: A-G; p 101-102.
Terms of Use and Reproduction
No Copyright.
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