From ARTHUR C. CLARKE
D. Pennington (Letters, 9 April) refers to the forthcoming impact of
comet Shoemaker-Levy on Jupiter during the last week of July – the most
dramatic astronomical event of this century, if not of all history. He states:
‘I understood that Jupiter’s mass was just short of that required for self-ignition,
which would enable it to become a second sun. I hope experts have taken
into account the possibility of artificial (sic) ignition. . .’
Precisely such an event – though with a somewhat different scenario
– was the climax of 2010: Odyssey II, and was superbly rendered in Peter
Hyams’s movie. Though I do not for a moment believe that this will actually
happen (Jupiter would have to possess ten times its present mass to become
a sun, and that of any comet is quite negligible), I am not averse to generating
a little alarm – and publicity!
Arthur C. Clarke Colombo, Sri Lanka
