What if Earth and the Moon Were Hit by Twin Asteroids?
ES2506  Earth Impact

One look at the moon offers plenty of evidence for asteroid impacts in our solar system neighborhood. As you've seen, Earth is an even better target than the moon. The obvious conclusion is that Earth has been hit many times by asteroids. This animation shows what such an event might look like.

  !   Click the image to see the animation.
Jennifer Loomis, TERC
Simulated asteroid impact

With a force far greater than all the explosives ever manufactured on Earth, a large asteroid impact would blast out a crater approximately twenty times its size.

The intense heat and shock wave would devastate millions of square kilometers of the surrounding area. Debris ejected from the impact would rain down across the planet, igniting firestorms and heating the atmosphere. Dust from the impact would remain in the atmosphere for several years, altering Earth's climate and affecting its inhabitants worldwide.

4. How do you think an ocean impact would differ from an impact on land?

 


	

 	

		
			
	

	
	

		 
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