Can the small comets help resolve the long standing controversy about the difference in impact rates on the Moon and into the Earths atmosphere?
Yes, there is a well known discrepancy between the number of objects of a given mass which are impacting Earth’s atmosphere as inferred from fireballs in the atmosphere and the number of objects of similar mass as detected by the Apollo seismic network. Even taking in account the fact that the Moon is smaller than the Earth, the number of objects impacting the Moon has been found to be considerably less than those in our atmosphere. This major discrepancy has never been resolved, but the flux of small comets provides the solution to this problem. Because there is no dust in these small comets, their glow in the atmosphere must be estimated from the heat they produce when they hit the atmosphere at supersonic speeds. We have roughly estimated the visual magnitudes of the impacting small comets and find them to be in the range of -2 to -4. Remember, of course, that solar radiation is not available on the nightside of Earth to produce a large water vapor cloud as it does on the dayside wh
Related Questions
- Can the small comets help resolve the long standing controversy about the difference in impact rates on the Moon and into the Earths atmosphere?
- If the small comets are hitting Earth and the Moon, shouldn they also be impacting the other planets in the solar system?
- How could the impact that created the moon have hastened the formation of life on earth?
