Izvleček
Leta 2014 je vesoljska sonda Rosetta na Zemljo poslala slike nenavadnega nebesnega telesa, kometa 67P, ki še najbolj spominja na sprimek dveh kep. Rosetta je na komet spustila tudi pristajalni modul Philae, ki se je po prostem padu zaradi majhne gravitacije od površine kometa večkrat odbil, preden se je pritrdil na podlago. Ali se gravitacijsko polje takega nebesnega telesa razlikuje od gravitacijskega polja Zemlje le po jakosti? Ali se težni pospešek spreminja s kvadratom razdalje? Z računalniško simulacijo na poenostavljenem modelu kometa smo ugotavljali lastnosti težnosti in prišli do zanimivih zaključkov.
Abstract
On the Gravity of Irregular Bodies
In 2014, the Rosetta space probe sent images of an unusual celestial body to Earth, the 67P comet, which resembles a conglomerate of two lumps. Rosetta also lowered the Philae lander onto the comet, which bounced off its surface several times after a free fall, before finally attaching itself to the ground. Does the gravitational field of such a celestial body differ from the gravitational field of Earth in anything other than magnitude? Does the gravitational acceleration change with the square of the distance? Using a computer simulation on a simplified model of the comet, we determined the properties of gravity and reached a few fascinating conclusions.