tidally locked exo-Earth tagged posts

When a comet hits a tidally locked exo-Earth

When a comet hits a tidally locked exo-Earth
An ultraviolet image of the train of Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet fragments impacting Jupiter’s atmosphere in 1994. The black dot near the top is Jupiter’s moon Io. Credit: Hubble Space Telescope Comet Team, NASA

Comets that have hit Earth have been a mixed bag. Early in Earth’s history, during the solar system’s chaotic beginning, they were likely the source of our planet’s water, ultimately making up about 0.02% of the planet’s mass. (Mars and Venus received a similar fraction.)

Comets brought complex organic molecules and the biosphere, but later posed a threat to the same in cometary collisions...

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