ERTH 2415 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Deccan Traps, 367943 Duende, Paleogene
28 Aug 2018
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Document Summary
Meteoroid: extraterrestrial debris orbiting the sun, a meteoroid entering the earth"s atmosphere is a potential impactor. Sources of extraterrestrial debris: primary source, most meteoroids are asteroids or fragments from asteroids, asteroid, small rocky body orbiting the sun, asteroid < planet. Close to the sun: terrestrial planets (mercury, venus, earth, mars: accretion of rocky material. Further away from the sun: giant planets (jupiter, saturn, uranus, neptune) Icy bodies of h, he and other frozen materials. Very far away from the sun: comets: stable water ice, material dispersed too thinly for planet formation. Earth: collisions between asteroids in the main belt send a few fragments off orbit to impact the earth, rare event. Near-earth asteroids: asteroids crossing the orbits of earth or. Mars: higher impact hazard than main belt asteroids. Sources of extraterrestrial debris m: secondary source, a few meteoroids are fragments from comets, comet: small object composed of ice and rock debris moving through outer space.
