Questions tagged [impact]
Questions regarding two objects colliding into each other with considerable force.
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If Theia really crashed into Earth, did it impact Earth's axial tilt?
The great-impact theory is widely accepted for the formation of moon. If Theia (often described as a Mars-sized rock) really crashed into Earth, did that make an impact on Earth's axial tilt?
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Why did the Comet Shoemaker-Levy-9 fragments cause such large explosions on Jupiter?
In July 1994, the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (D/1993 F2) tidally fragmented and these fragments collided into Jupiter, as per the image below.
Image source
The question is, what mechanisms resulted in ...
user8
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Did a piece of Halley's comet strike the Earth 1,500 years ago?
A friend showed me an article saying that there's evidence that a piece of Halley's comet may have struck the earth about 1,500 years ago. Is anyone here aware of such evidence?
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What percentage of a lunar meteor strike is blown back into space?
Reading a discussion on another website, it was proposed that if a large meteor struck the moon, that a few days later, Earth would receive a meteor shower.
I thought about that and it seemed to me ...
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Could an impact have resurfaced Venus 300 million years ago?
Venus surface isn't older than about 300 million years. The only explanation I've come across is that some kind of global volcanism resurfaced the planet. But couldn't it have been an impact event? A ...
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How well would the Moon protect the Earth from an Asteroid?
Would the Earth fare better if the Moon blocked the meteor, comet, rogue planet, or otherwise rather than a direct impact? At what point would the Moon's debris would be an extinction event?
The ...
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Detecting Deep Impact
There have been several accounts in media articles of asteroid near misses, many describe that the asteroid was not seen before the near miss.
After reading the question and answer to How can we tell ...
user2449
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If an Asteroid was to strike the Earth, would it affect the Earth's rotation?
If an Asteroid was to strike the Earth, would it affect noticeably the Earth's rotation, and if so, how large would this Asteroid have to be?
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How can we tell if the asteroid 2013 TV135 will hit Earth in 2032?
Some astronomers in Ukraine have estimated that there is a small likelihood (1 in 63,000) that the asteroid 2013 TV135 will strike Earth in 2032. (source)
Don Yeoman of NASA JPL says:
with more ...
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What explains the distribution of new impact craters on Mars?
24 minutes into this van Karman lecture by Dr. Tamppari, the slide below is shown with symbols for transient events on Mars. Red dots represent meteoroid impacts which have occurred while MRO has been ...
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What calculations show that Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 orbited Jupiter for several decades before its spectacular impact? (Chodas, Sekanina & Yeomans)
This answer to A moon in eccentric orbit dipping below Roche limit includes the following about Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9
Here is a nice figure of its last passes:
I looked up "fragment A" in ...
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How often do meteorites hit the Earth?
I heard of one that occurred in 2008 in the Nubian Desert in Sudan, how often does it happen? Is there a catalogue of all hits or are they very rare?
Related link (This is what inspired my interest ...
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What parameters determine whether galaxies colliding will result in a merger or a hit and run?
Colliding galaxies sometimes merge and sometimes pass through each other. Either way, there are huge changes as a result. What are the parameters that matter in determining whether a collision will ...
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Can Mercury hit Earth or Mars in the next 5 billion years?
Mercury is the most unstable planet of the solar system, with an oscillating orbital eccentricity (between 0 to 0.45). It seems there is a 1% probability in the next 5 billion years Jupiter and ...
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A planet after a moon-generating impact
Nascent terrestrial planets quickly have their surfaces cool down.
Formation of crust then yields formation of a figure.
What happens to the already formed crust and the figure after an energetic ...
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Are there any specific examples of overlapping impact and volcanic craters on astronomical bodies beyond Earth?
This answer to Can a crater form inside another crater points out that in addition to impact-on-impact double craters there can be volcanic double craters, and even a one on the other (though no ...
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