Question:
Comet levy will colloid with Jupiter in July 1994. it will probably
be a HUGE explosion. the collision will occur on the fireside of the planet. I
got an idea from bill higgins at fermi to use the moons as a periscope to detect
the light produced using a photometer. what can I do to see if this will
work, theoretically. PLEASE HELP!!!!
Replies:
It sounds like the huge explosion will produce a sudden burst
of light (like a nuclear explosion) some of which might be
reflected to the earth by some of Jupiter's moons... IF any
of Jupiter's moons happen to be in the right part of their
orbit at the time of the explosion. You need to check an
ephemeris to get the data on Jupiter's moons as well as the
relative positions of the earth and Jupiter, and you need to
know the time of the collision more accurately, day and
probably hour. Then you'll have to figure out where on the
earth would be the best place to observe the Jovian system
at the time of collsion IF Jupiter happened to be in the
night-time sky at the time of collsion.
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