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What would a 10 km asteroid do?
For an asteroid 10 km in diameter, it doesn’t matter where it hits, ocean or dry land. The energy of the impact will vaporize the asteroid and a large amount of the Earth’s crust, creating a crater more than one hundred kilometers across, throwing all that rock into the air.
What would happen if a 10 kilometer object struck the Earth?
If the comet is 10 kilometers across or larger (that is, if the impact carries an energy of more than about 100 million megatons), the resulting global environmental damage will be so extensive that it will lead to a mass extinction, in which most life forms die.
How fast can a comet hit Earth?
Due to Earth’s escape velocity, the minimum impact velocity is 11 km/s with asteroid impacts averaging around 17 km/s on the Earth.
How often can we expect a 10km in diameter asteroid or comet to impact Earth?
From studies of orbit statistics, it is estimated that asteroids of 10 km size can hit the earth roughly every 100 My or so — which fits with the idea that we actually did get hit 65 My ago by an object this size. (Smaller hits are much more common).
How fast was the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs?
Scientists calculate that it was blasted into Earth by a 10-kilometer-wide asteroid or comet traveling 30 kilometers per second — 150 times faster than a jet airliner. Scientists have concluded that the impact that created this crater occurred 65 million years ago.
What if Jupiter collided with the Sun?
Given that sunspots larger than Jupiter form occasionally, and are quickly mixed back into the sun, it seems likely Jupiter would do the same thing. And if it is mixed through the convection layer, all it would do is marginally decrease the temperature, and thus marginally dim the sun.
How long does it take for a comet to hit Earth?
“Potentially we could have as little as six months notice of a comet that is on its first orbit into the inner solar system on an Earth-crossing trajectory.” Scientists currently only know about 20,000 potentially dangerous comets despite there being up to one BILLION of them in our solar system.
How far away is the Comet ISON from the Sun?
Comet ISON will be close enough to the sun, as of Oct. 10 that it will be visible by an instrument with an extremely wide view on one of the solar observatories: the HI 2 instrument on one of NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories, STEREO-A. At that point the comet will be around 94.5 million miles away from the sun.
What is the speed of a 10 km asteroid?
Also, a typical speed for meteorites is around 30 kilometers per second. An asteroid 10 kilometers across is so massive that it’s very hard to slow it down. Unlike smaller meteors, it will not be slowed down much by air friction. It will punch through the atmosphere like it’s hardly even there.
What happens when a meteoroid hits the Earth?
Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun.