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New and Amended pages 14/5/19
#8
(05-16-2019, 03:38 PM)The Astronomer Wrote: 2) Bennu rotates much faster than Ryugu, and they both have roughly the same shape.

3) Also, what prevents a generic asteroid moon from assuming a roughly spherical shape?

4) The current shape does not reflect the original shape of this asteroid. It could've been sculpted by the colonists. Personally, I think its role is as a 'decoration' that bonuses as a counterweight and living space.

If you're bothered by the shape of an asteroid in a Celestia addon, you can consider asking Steve to create another shipyard model with less spherical asteroid. As for me, I think I'll just leave it like that.

2) Because they are both low mass rubble piles rotating very quickly for their sizes. While Ryugu is larger and rotates slower than Bennu, it is still enough for mass to move to the equator and pile up into the ridge that gives these asteroids their shape.

3) Mass. Small asteroid moons are not in hydrostatic equilibrium and cannot reshape themselves under their own gravity into a spheroid or ellipsoidal shape. Bodies can be in equilibrium and then later be knocked out of round by impacts (Phoebe, Vesta) and bodies not in equilibrium can be quasi-spherical (Iapetus).

A small asteroidal moon in a close orbit around a much larger primary, as appears to be the case for New Eureka and Archimedes, would be tidally locked, with its long axis pointing at its primary. Unless Archimedes orbits New Eureka very quickly and has similar compositional features to Ryugu and Bennu, it is unlikely to be round for the same reason they are.

3) This is plausible and something that I had considered, I just didn't know if that is what you intended.

I have no objection to the current picture. You answered my question to my satisfaction by demonstrating that Archimedes is not spherical, it was just an artifact of the viewing angle. I was just trying to point out that it would be unlikely to be spherical for the same reason that Ryugu and Bennu are.
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Messages In This Thread
New and Amended pages 14/5/19 - by stevebowers - 05-15-2019, 05:59 AM
RE: New and Amended pages 14/5/19 - by dsmike1980 - 05-15-2019, 06:37 AM
RE: New and Amended pages 14/5/19 - by dsmike1980 - 05-15-2019, 06:42 AM
RE: New and Amended pages 14/5/19 - by dsmike1980 - 05-16-2019, 12:49 PM
RE: New and Amended pages 14/5/19 - by dsmike1980 - 05-17-2019, 06:38 AM

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