1Class 7Tides beyond the Earth-Moon system Tides in the solar system Jupiter’s Moon Io The case of comet Shoemaker Levy 9 Tides in the Universe Galaxy collisionsI : Io Io is a satellite of Jupiter Closest of the 4 Galilean satellites Orbits Jupiter with period of 1.77 days Tidal forces have locked it into synchronous rotationwith its orbit Here’s where life gets interesting… Perturbations from Europa and Ganymede for Io’sorbit to be slightly elliptical… So tidal forces slightly change over the course of theorbit The varying flexing/squeezing of Io causes itsinterior to be heated… drives powerful volcanicaction234II : Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Discovered by Eugene/Carolyn Shoemaker andDavid Levy on 24th March 1993 Unusual comet – a whole string of nuclei5Why a string of nuclei? Computations of theorbit show that… SL9 came very closeto Jupiter in 1992 Close enough for tidalforces to completelyrip it to bits SL9 would hit Jupiterin 1994 First ever time thatmodern scientistscould study comet-planet collision67III : Collisions of galaxies Galaxy collisions are curious… Galaxies have A LOT of empty space Very unlikely that even a single pair of starswill directly impact each other But galaxies can still rip each other apartvia the tidal
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