What would happen if an meteor or asteroid the size of ______________, made of ______________, hit Earth at a speed of ______________?
There’s a web app for that. Check out Purdue’s Impact: Earth!
Have fun destroying the planet!!! (And learning about asteroid impacts of various sizes and energies, of course)
Being ~100 times more massive than Earth, Jupiter is bound to take more of a beating from celestial projectiles than Earth is. Looks like the big guy took another one for the team yesterday, as captured by amateur astronomers in the video above.
Eyes will be trained on Jupiter in the coming weeks to see how the collision affects cloud patterns, etc. A friendly reminder that planets get hit by stuff, including Earth. It’s a matter of when, not if.
More at NBC News’ Cosmic Log. Reminds me of ol’ Shoemaker-Levy hitting Jupiter back in 1994, the first time we ever witnessed such celestial destruction.
(via nevver)
I'm Joe Hanson, Ph.D. biologist and host/writer of PBS Digital Studios' It's Okay To Be Smart. Check out my "Episode Extras" here. There's a lot of amazing science out there. Let's go discover it together.
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