• Question: if two planets in our solar system collided would it have a negative effect on our planet?

    Asked by THE GREAT MANGO to Gavin, Mark, Michel, Roisin on 16 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Mark Kennedy

      Mark Kennedy answered on 16 Nov 2016:

      That depends on the size of the planets.

      If it were, say, Mercury and Mars, then there would be an increase in the number of shooting stars (and possible asteroid collisions) on Earth. What might be worrying is the size of the chunks left over from the planet collision – a big enough one would wipe us out.

      If it were the very big planets, like Jupiter and Saturn, not only would we have to worry about the asteroid collisions mentioned above, but also our orbit around the Sun would be affected, since Jupiter and Saturn are quite massive,

      Thankfully, this isn’t likely to happen – all of the planets in our Solar System are moving the same way around the Sun, and none of their orbits collide. So we’re safe for now 🙂

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