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Question
If a comet or asteroid were big enough, could it collide with Earth and subsequently alter its orbit?
No, a comet or asteroid collision cannot significantly alter the orbit or rotation of Earth, but it can cause catastrophic environmental damage. The Earth’s atmosphere protects us from most smaller comets and asteroids (50 m diameter), however, from this size up to about 1 km diameter, an impacting comet can do tremendous damage on a local scale. Still larger comets or asteroids (diameter about 2 km) will produce severe environmental damage on a global scale. An "impact winter" would result and cause the loss of crops worldwide and subsequent starvation and disease. Larger impacts can cause mass extinctions, like the one that ended the age of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago (15 km diameter). For more information on the latest research and study of potential earth impacts, see the NASA Ames site http://impact.arc.nasa.gov
March 11, 2002
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