Ratcho wrote:

Why would Jupiter spit out/eject the occasional asteroid? What is the reasoning behind this burping out a chunk of rock when we know Jupiter does the opposite... sucks in asteroids?

We're talking about a single event, as has been postulated through Chinese studies to explain the undersized and overly hot core of Jupiter, as compared to what theory predicts. In terms of explosive power, it would meet criteria cited by Carl Sagan as necessary to eject a planet-sized body. Sagan also pointed out that any such event should also have created many smaller bodies. Recent probes suggest that certain pristine moons of Jupiter and certain short-period comets could have originated with this same event.

- Laird



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03-Nov-15 16:38 by Laird Scranton.