If the small comets are hitting Earth and the Moon, shouldn they also be impacting the other planets in the solar system?
They do. But few small comets will survive inside the Earth’s orbit because they will be destroyed by the Sun’s heat. So there will be no small comets for Mercury, and maybe just a few for Venus. But the rest of the planets and their moons do get pelted by the small comets. While Earth gets about 10 million smallcomets a year, Mars receives less than a million and a half, Jupiter gets 16 billion,Saturn gets 4 billion, Uranus gets 260 million, Neptune gets 300 million, and Pluto only about 500 thousand a year. If the ice is not visible on the surface, as is it for many planetary moons, then the water and ice from the small comets probably lies beneath the planet’s surface.
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?
- What kinds of asteroids and comets have hit Mars, Earth, and other planets throughout the history of the Solar System?
