0
$\begingroup$

How come the comets and asteroids in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud are kept in a gravitational field and they don't get pushed and pulled by the planets around them? I get why comets in the Oort cloud couldn't have developed to be planets cause of the cold and distance from the sun, but wouldn't really big comets in the same orbit of Jupiter have at least got some planet-like properties? Like an atmosphere, or whatever? What makes a (small) comet not developed enough to have this? They are failed planets, they started off hot as well.

And how come the comets/asteroids around Jupiter have the exact same orbital period around the sun? Isn't the orbital period determined on e.g. the mass of the object and the distance to the object it's orbiting around? I don't get how a comet, which is probably a million times lighter than Jupiter, can have the same orbital period and speed around the sun.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
7
  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to Astronomy SE. You are asking many questions in this post, which may lead to closure of the question. May I edit the question to narrow the scope? Or would you like to do so? $\endgroup$
    – Connor Garcia ♦
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 18:10
  • $\begingroup$ You may edit it, as long as all the questions are kept as is and aren't left behing. I can only ask 1 thing every 40 mins :) @ConnorGarcia $\endgroup$
    – Anonymous RU
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 18:12
  • $\begingroup$ From our help menu: astronomy.stackexchange.com/help/closed-questions, Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once. I have closed this question, but will reopen it if you narrow the scope. I specifically recommend deleting one of the two paragraphs (perhaps the second to largely preserve the answer from @Glorfindel ). $\endgroup$
    – Connor Garcia ♦
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 18:26
  • $\begingroup$ You are welcome to ask the other question separately when allowed by the site. $\endgroup$
    – Connor Garcia ♦
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 18:27
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ In the astronomy time scale 40 minutes is a mere blink of the eye. $\endgroup$
    – John Canon
    Commented Nov 4, 2021 at 5:20

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2
$\begingroup$

How come the comets and asteroids in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud are kept in a gravitational field and they don't get pushed and pulled by the planets around them?

Basically, they're so far away from the planets that those don't exert significant influence on them. The Sun is much heavier, so those objects remain where they are and don't escape into outer space.

but wouldn't really big comets in the same orbit of Jupiter have at least got some planet-like properties

Yes, but Jupiter has gobbled them up; it has cleared its neighbourhood.

And how come the comets/asteroids around Jupiter have the exact same orbital period around the sun?

If you mean the Jupiter trojans, they indeed have the exact same orbital period, due to them being at the stable Lagrange points L4 and L5. Why this is possible at all is advanced orbital mechanics, which is interesting but may be rather complicated.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .