This is a good time for people who study comets! Not only is New Horizons currently studying Pluto, a massive comet in the Kuiper Belt, but Rosetta is giving us our first up close glimpse at a comet as it approaches the sun, heats up and begins outgassing.
It's one of the biggest comets! Big enough that it's reached hydrostatic equilibrium and has become round, which is coincidentally the criteria required for it to be called a "dwarf planet" as well. Compositionally, it is indistinguishable from a comet, and formed in the same region as most comets (the Kuiper Belt - the same place that 67P was formed!). If it were moved closer to the sun, the ices on its surface would begin outgassing, just like a comet, however because of its larger mass and escape velocity, the gasses would be mostly bound to the surface instead of making a tail (at first, of course over time that atmosphere would escape and Pluto would lose enough mass that its atmosphere would begin to form a tail).
"Dwarf planet" is the new official term. Used to be "planetoid". Things get reclassified every now and then based on how the planetary science community prefers to categorize them.
Actually, it's all three! It's a comet, it's a planetoid, and it's a dwarf planet.... and it's a Trans-Neptunian object, a Plutoid, a Kuiper belt object, a Plutino... The list goes on and on.
You're not wrong. I was merely considering size, not composition. I just believe that when most people hear the term "comet", they should think of an object the size of the Rosetta comet, as that size of comet is far more abundant, at least in our solar system (and probably most).
Now we're talkin'. I can see you're not a novice. Cheers! Edit: do you work in space science?power law distribution
I'm plasma. Which is like, the stuff that's in my blood, I think. Right? But seriously, no one cares about plasma. It's so far removed from the human experience that it's harder to stir up excitement. No pretty pictures, basically. Oh boohoo, whoa is me, etc.
I care about plasma! Plasma is why a temporary fault on a power line (a lightning strike is a common instigator) has to be cleared by disconnecting the line. The lightning is long gone, but the overvoltage it caused creates a plasma arc that is sustained by the line voltage. Do I have that right? I'm a utility electrical engineer.
That all sounds correct. Plasma is more conductive than Earth's gaseous atmosphere by many orders of magnitude. I think the arc usually forms a disconnect within 10 seconds or so, because of thermal turbulence it has helped induce in the surrounding air. Problem is, you don't want a line arcing for 10 seconds, because that can really do some damage. Does 10 seconds sound about right? Or will it go on indefinitely? Of course, it's dependent on voltage, spacing, even geometry. I guess I mean in general.
From the grid side, we clear a fault like that in less than a quarter of a second. It can wreak havok when a fault lingers. But sometimes they do! There's video of a fault that lasted long enough for someone to wake up at the sound of an explosion, look out the window, grab their phone and start videoing. My experience, which mostly comes from training on "this is why we always clear faults quickly," is a fault that remains for a few seconds eventually becomes more severe. I think it's that turbulent air you mentioned. One of the three phases will have sustained plasma, and that plasma moves around and eventually the second and third phases get involved. If the first phase wasn't enough to clear the fault, the second and third ones are. Plasma is really interesting!
I'm typing this while my girlfriend watches, this is like my dirty talk. Here is what she has to say: y,k6gfhu9-ewatfrdrtqyhg6f5e478huhiiiuy Edit: we are lol'ing together. OK, now we are cuddling Edit 2 (the morning after): Uh. Thank you for your tolerance and clarification. :)
No pretty pictures, basically.
Oh, it absolutely does! But I couldn't find the word "plasma" anywhere on that page. There's a disconnect between personal experience and scientific literacy in this instance, just like... almost every other subject. Damn.
Very cool! Not my cup of tea personally, sounds like the worst of E&M, fluid dynamics and atmospheric science all rolled into one. But still, always cool to see another astronomer around. But yeah, I feel you about the lack of pretty pictures. I've got some nice plots for you to ogle, but nothing of the actual planets. Just some blobby pixelated images of their host stars. Still, the pretty stuff is cool and generates a lot of public excitement which is always nice. Also, I wouldn't sell your field short. I'm assuming that you're studying plasma around the sun, and those CMEs and stuff can be pretty beautiful. EDIT: I added some stuff.
Hey now, a little bit of magnetohydrodynamics never hurt anyone. :) See you around!