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Asteroid impact event. Lateral sectioned view of an asteroid impact, similar to that which is thought to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs around 65 million years ago. The impact took place at sea near the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, forming the Chicxulub crater (around 200 kilometres across). The impact threw trillions of tons of dust into the atmosphere and sent tsunamis (massive waves) around the globe, destroying coastal areas. Dust and water vapour in the atmosphere lowered global temperatures. Plant and then animal life began to die off. The dinosaurs never recovered, and mammals rose to become the dominant form of life.

Could Earth sustain life without having been hit by a dwarf planet?

6 March 2024

There are lots of ideas about how life got started on Earth, say our readers, but if an object hadn’t crashed into Earth to form the moon, as per the giant-impact hypothesis, life may not have begun

earth and sunbeam in galaxy space element finished by nasa; Shutterstock ID 280760417; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

How heavy is Earth and how much weight could it take before caving in?

14 February 2024

Earth’s mass is about 6 million million million million kilograms, say our readers – and it wouldn’t be a great idea to be in the vicinity if too much mass were added

In this Voyager 2 image of Saturn, obtained Aug. 11, 1981, from a range of 14.7 million kilometers (9.1 million miles), north is at the upper right edge of the disc. Seen above the planet are the satellites Dione (right) and Enceladus. This false-color print shows a green spot at the south edge of a yellow band; in true color, the spot would appear brown and the band white. A bright yellow spot slightly above and to the left in this image moves eastward relative to the green spot at a rate that allows it to pass the green feature in about 50 days. The convective clouds that appear between the two spots are typical of the region. Here, the smallest visible structures measure about 270 kilometers (170 miles). The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia01959-voyager-2-image-of-saturn

What is the probability that Voyager 1 or 2 will hit a planet or star?

10 January 2024

The likelihood of this happening is extraordinarily low, say our readers, because interstellar space is so vast

iss067e189024 (July 16, 2022) --- The sun's rays begin to illuminate the Earth's atmosphere as the International Space Station flew into an orbital sunrise 261 miles above Texas. iss067e189024 NASA ID: iss067e189024 iss067e189024 (July 16, 2022) --- The sun's rays begin to illuminate the Earth's atmosphere as the International Space Station flew into an orbital sunrise 261 miles above Texas. Date Created:2022-07-16 Center:JSC

When was the first sunrise on Earth?

19 July 2023

This is a question of how we define “Earth”, say our readers, but we also need to consider when light from the young sun could have pierced Earth’s atmosphere

Could Jupiter ever ignite into a star?

30 October 2019

Jupiter is big enough to be a star, so could it ever become one? The answer lies in knowing how a star forms, as readers explain

Nudge factor

23 August 2017

My 8-year-old son is very worried about Earth being destroyed by the sun when it becomes a red giant billions of years from now. I have tried to comfort him by suggesting we could shift Earth's orbit by hurling asteroids towards the planet on trajectories...

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