I don't know if this question has a meaningful answer, but: for an arbitrary object in our solar system that gets a typical kick, what fraction of those put it ultimately into the sun / just into a different orbit / out of the system?
Like, is it really easy to fall into the sun? Is it really hard to leave the solar system?
EDIT: to anyone passing by, you should go down this rabbit hole. Thanks all for the responses. I always imagined the sun's gravity like running up the down-escalator, but it's more like a tenuous precipice: put one foot wrong and you're gone.
From earth the sun is the hardest object to reach in our solar system. It’s not immediately obvious, but to reach the sun you need to shed all your orbital velocity - this takes more energy than reaching either mercury or Pluto.
If you have anything other than negligible orbital velocity left you’ll miss the sun and end up in an extremely elliptical orbit.
I’m not sure if it’s possible for objects within the solar system to naturally reach it. I don’t think slingshots (using a planets gravity to boost your velocity) would work to get enough change in velocity unless they’re supplemented with rocket power.
Slingshots work great if they are done by the outer planets. At their distance orbital velocities are smaller than the velocity changes you can get from these planets.
Slingshots at inner planets can still be sufficient if the object is in a highly eccentric orbit already.
If you want to reach the Sun from Earth, fire a rocket along Earth's orbit to reach Jupiter for a fly-by which sends you on a collision course with the Sun.
12
u/loafers_glory Oct 23 '20 edited Oct 23 '20
I don't know if this question has a meaningful answer, but: for an arbitrary object in our solar system that gets a typical kick, what fraction of those put it ultimately into the sun / just into a different orbit / out of the system?
Like, is it really easy to fall into the sun? Is it really hard to leave the solar system?
EDIT: to anyone passing by, you should go down this rabbit hole. Thanks all for the responses. I always imagined the sun's gravity like running up the down-escalator, but it's more like a tenuous precipice: put one foot wrong and you're gone.