Related papers: Spall Craters in the Solar System
Stylolites are ubiquitous geo-patterns observed in rocks in the upper crust, from geological reservoirs in sedimentary rocks to deformation zones, in folds, faults, and shear zones. These rough surfaces play a major role in the dissolution…
Gravitational scattering between massive planets has been invoked to explain the eccentricity distribution of extrasolar planets. For scattering to occur, the planets must either form in -- or migrate into -- an unstable configuration. In…
Photometric observations of asteroids show that some of them are in non-principal axis rotation state (free precession), called tumbling. Collisions between asteroids have been proposed as a possible asteroid rotation excitation mechanism.…
A planetary system can undergo multiple episodes of intense dynamical activities throughout its life, resulting in the production of star-grazing planetesimals (or exocomets) and pollution of the host star. Such activity is especially…
Impacts play a fundamental role in shaping the physical and chemical properties of the objects in our Solar System. Given the challenges in replicating such collisions through laboratory experiments, computer simulations are an important…
Pulsar glitches, i.e. the sudden spin-ups of pulsars, have been detected for most pulsars that we known. The mechanism giving rise to this kind of phenomenon is uncertain, although a large data set has been built. In the framework of…
We carry out experiments of 104 m/s velocity oblique impacts into a granular medium (sand). Impact craters have nearly round rims even at a grazing angle of about $10^\circ$, however, the strength of seismic pulses excited by the impact is…
The outskirts of galaxy clusters are continuously disturbed by mergers and gas infall along filaments, which in turn induce turbulent flow motions and shock waves. We examine the properties of shocks that form within $r_{200}$ in sample…
The outcome of collisions between small icy bodies, such as Kuiper belt objects, is poorly understood and yet a critical component of the evolution of the trans-Neptunian region. The expected physical properties of outer solar system…
Hard sphere suspensions are well recognized model systems of statistical physics and soft condensed matter. We here investigate the temporal evolution of the immediate environment of nucleating and growing crystals and/or their global scale…
Rings are complex structures surrounding giant planets and some minor bodies in the Solar System. While some formation mechanisms could also potentially foster their existence around (regular or irregular) satellites, none of these bodies…
All the four giant planets in our Solar System have rings, but their characteristics are very different. The rings consist of a number of small particles, although individual particles have not been directly imaged. Near the central planet,…
When a granular material is impacted by a sphere, its surface deforms like a liquid yet it preserves a circular crater like a solid. Although the mechanism of granular impact cratering by solid spheres is well explored, our knowledge on…
The circular restricted three body problem is investigated in the context of accretion and scattering processes. In our model a large number of identical non-interacting mass-less planetesimals are considered in planar case orbiting a…
The dynamical interaction of minor bodies (such as comets or asteroids) with planets plays an essential role in the planetary system's architecture and evolution. As a result of these interactions, structures like the Kuiper belt and the…
The erosion of lunar soil by rocket exhaust plumes is investigated experimentally. This has identified the diffusion-driven flow in the bulk of the sand as an important but previously unrecognized mechanism for erosion dynamics. It has also…
Fractals are defined as geometric shapes that exhibit symmetry of scale. This simply implies that fractal is a shape that it would still look the same even if somebody could zoom in on one of its parts an infinite number of times. This…
Intermediate-scale spurs are common in spiral galaxies, but perhaps most distinctively evident in a recent HST image of M51 (Scoville & Rector 2001). We investigate, using time-dependent numerical MHD simulations, how such spurs could form…
Tidal dissipation is known as one of the main drivers of the secular evolution of planetary systems. It directly results from dissipative mechanisms that occur in planets and stars' interiors and strongly depends on the structure and…
The flyby of Pluto and Charon by the New Horizons spacecraft provided high-resolution images of cratered surfaces embedded in the Kuiper belt, an extensive region of bodies orbiting beyond Neptune. Impact craters on Pluto and Charon were…