Re: Space Probe

I have not read of any report that the meteor detectors on the two Pioneers got
any significant hits during their passage through the asteroid belt.

Since you're having problems with imagining the density, do this:

(1) Take a *** of paper as large as California.
(2) Have someone take a handful of sand and scatter it evenly across that ***.
(3) Now, go out there and look for those individual sandgrains.

You're also probably comparing the size of the individual asteroids to your own
physical size, and they are much larger than a human being. But the space they
travel in is a volume roughly 10 to the 25th power cubic miles or so, rough
calculation. Lots of room to travel in and not run into anything significant.

--- Dave Nakamoto
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pinprick holes in a colorless sky
Let inspired figures of light pass by
The Mighty Light of ten thousand suns
Challenges infinity, and is soon gone

david.nakamoto@xxxxxxxxxxx


"Larry Stedman" <stedman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:stedman-473B15.18251927032006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Why do the textbooks continue to perpetuate the myth, with those
diagrams filled in with dozens upon dozens of dots between Mars and
Jupiter?

It makes it hard to disabuse people of their misconceptions!

OTOH, what would the small particle density be? In other words, while
one isn't going to hit any of the known asteroids, what about dust and
debris in general? How much greater is it than in the space between
Earth and Mars, e.g.? I'm assuming not bad at all, but don't have an
envelope handy to do some calcs!

Larry Stedman
Suburban Milky Way


.

Quantcast