Naked Science Forum
On the Lighter Side => That CAN'T be true! => Topic started by: evan_au on 11/05/2019 03:07:21
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In a discussion on the age of the Solar System, it was suggested that you could count craters on the planets; Jupiter was mentioned (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/how-old-are-planets) as an example.
Fragments of the comet Shoemaker-Levy made a big splash on Jupiter, leaving behind a mark thousands of kilometers wide:
However, these surface marks were rapidly swallowed by Jupiter's swirling, deep atmosphere.
- I imagine that dust from these large impacts would eventually rain down through Jupiter's atmosphere
To count comet impacts, you really need rocky planets, dwarf planets or moons.
- Even Earth is not a good example, as weathering and plate tectonics gradually erase the scars of old impacts.