Re: planetary and atmospheric rotation - origins, direction, etc

On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:35:22 -0800, Larry Caldwell
<firstnamelastinitial@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>In article <mjscs3d60ttflpjbddms7l1g53bbo0om4n@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, 
>DELETEMETOREPLYrobertocastillo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Zombie Elvis) says...
>
>> Here's a blog post which points to a New Scientist article on a paper
>> which postulates that a collision of two proto-planets might be
>> responsible for the formation of Venus and explains its lack of water
>> and funky rotation. The article is subscription only, the blog post is
>> light on details, and the paper itself they are both based upon is
>> also subscription only but hey, it's a start.
>
>If Venus underwent such a massive collision, where is the debris?   
>Venus should have one or more moons accreted from the debris.

The blog post suggested that head on collision at just the right speed
would cause the two proto-venuses to merge without producing a lot of
debris. I personally don't have an opinion one way or the other -- the
New Scientist article and paper the blog links to are both
subscription only so it's hard to get an idea of the physics involved
in such a collision. The original poster just happened to ask for
pointers to papers and I just happened to be have been reading that
blog post minutes before so it stuck in my mind.
--
Cause, really, nothing says "I'm a counter culture 
rebel, fighting the establishment" like an Aibo on 
a skateboard.
      - Seen on Slashdot

Roberto Castillo
robertocastillo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]