Cosmic Collisions
July 27th 2010 04:35
Category: No Category
Neptune, NASA image
Planets colliding with large cosmic debris is very common within our solar system.
Earth has been bombarded in the past with various fragments ranging from meteorites asteroids and even collisions with small comets.
Earth is constantly bombarded by thousands of meteors and other fragments from space on a daily basis, we see them as shooting stars meteorites most burn up and disintegrate in the atmosphere above Earth.
There is evidence of ancient impact craters here on Earth fortunately we have not suffered the damage that was caused to Jupiter when the Shoemaker-Levy nine fragmented and struck the planet in 1994.
Although Jupiter was scarred it has recovered, Jupiter is a massive planet and can withstand major collisions with asteroids and remain relatively unscathed.
If Shoemaker-Levy nine had crashed into the Earth most life on this planet would not survive.
Researchers studying Neptune's atmosphere found evidence that a comet may have struck the planet about two centuries ago.
Neptune’s atmosphere consists of mostly hydrogen and helium with traces of water, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.
However,scientists found an unusual distribution of carbon monoxide in the stratosphere, the upper layer of Neptune’s atmosphere, and found a higher concentration than in the layer beneath, the troposphere.
The higher concentration of carbon monoxide in the stratosphere can only be explained by contamination form a foreign source, most likely a comet impact.
Normally, the concentrations of carbon monoxide in Neptune’s troposphere and stratosphere should be the same or decrease with increasing height.
The current high content of carbon monoxide trapped can be attributed the comet’s icy core and slowly released over the years perhaps causing the anomaly.
Fortunately for us we have Jupiter and Saturn to thank for diverting most of the larger cosmic objects from hitting Earth, still we're not out of the woods yet, it's the minor objects we need to be worried about.
| 139 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
Hi S.L thank you for the comment.
Jupiter and Saturn are a bit like older siblings looking after the smaller ones, still
I think I need to invest in a hard hat.
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief