Lifeboat Foundation

part 1
part 2
part 3: below, read on!

IT MAKES sense that larger bodies tend to experience more asteroid impacts. Just the fact that they take up more space means they intercept more potential asteroid orbits. Additionally, larger bodies have more gravity, which tends to suck in nearby asteroids, the poor little suckers.

The largest body in our neighborhood is the sun. Thus one might expect comparatively frequent impacts. In fact on June 1 and 2, 1998, two comets did crash ito the sun, followed shortly by a huge eruption, a “coronal mass ejection” much bigger than the entire Earth, but thought to be unrelated to the comets.

The second largest body in our solar system is Jupiter. In July, 1994 comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 plunged into the planet in over 20 pieces covering a period of several days. Comets are a lot like asteroids, but are icy while asteroids are not. The impacts left dark markings easily visible through telescopes, and emitted bursts of microwaves, x-rays, far ultraviolet, infrared, and radio waves.

Continue reading “Asteroid Apocalypse (part 3 – big…and really big)” »