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

On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:38:37 -0800, Erik Max Francis <max@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:

>Larry Caldwell 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.
>
>Or part of the debris escaped and part recoalseced back into the 
>proto-Venus (possibly with a brief ring phase first).  Not all 
>collisions result in independent satellites; after all, that's not how 
>we think most planetary satellites got made.

If I'm not mistaken, Saturn's Iapetus has a huge ridge across its
equator which is thought to be the debris from a collision which
briefly formed a ring system around the moon before settling back on
the surface. This ridge has turned Iapetus into something of a darling
among the crank crowd.

The view is stunning:
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/iapetus.htm
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=25435
-- 
"Yes, yes, this is a fertile land and we shall thrive. We will rule
over all this land and we will call it,...'This Land.' 
I think we should call it your grave! 
Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal.
Hah, hah, hah. Mine is an evil laugh."
	-- Wash

Roberto Castillo
robertocastillo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]