![]() In effect, the moon is “a time capsule for events that happen in our corner of the solar system. And since it’s been a constant companion to Earth for most of its lifetime, the moon can be used to fill in the gaps in the planet’s impact history. ![]() That means our impact record is heavily biased toward recent events.īut the moon is an airless body lacking erosional capabilities and plate tectonics, making it a comparatively untouched geological archive. Inconveniently for impact analysts, Earth has active plate tectonics, weathering, and erosion, and these processes smooth over our planet’s record of ancient craters. The more of the picture we can uncover, the better we’ll be able to understand what puts our survival at risk. NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office keeps watch for any potentially hazardous Earthbound space debris, and it certainly helps their efforts to know what the inner solar system’s impact rates are like. One such impact proved to be the coup de grâce for the age of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. This matters, not least because asteroids large enough to make it through the atmosphere can smash into Earth and trigger mass extinctions. ![]() Find out the origins of our home planet and some of the key ingredients that help make this blue speck in space a unique global ecosystem. Earth is the only planet known to maintain life. ![]()
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