Tag Archives: collisions

How Do Moons Form?

Posted on February 8, 2023 by willems49

Have you ever considered how Earth got its moon in the first place? Astronomers have come up with several theories for why each planet in our solar system has a certain number of moons, and how these moons formed. For Earth’s moon, it is thought a collision with another planet shortly after formation of the […] Continue reading →

Posted in Moons | Tagged , , | Comments Off on How Do Moons Form?

Comets

Posted on April 4, 2017 by ksun1

The formation of the planetary bodies was not a peaceful one. Planetesimals, effectively “planet seeds” that would accrete material to gain mass, would frequently collide with each other at violent speeds. A collision between two planetesimals of similar sizes would spell the doom for both – all of their hard work accreting mass would be […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Comets

Space junk

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Megan C

After 60 years of sending things into space, the number of satellites, rocket stages, and pieces of debris floating around the Earth is gigantic.  As that number continues to increase, the number of collisions between these objects is expected to increase too. We don’t think much about space junk. I guess we just hear about […] Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Space junk