Question:
I am a third grader and wondering how the earth could be thrown out
of orbit and if it ever has had this happen?? What might the effects
of this be?
Replies:
To throw a planet out of its orbit would require some other
large mass to go by. This other mass could be a very large comet
or some small planet. There does not appear to be anything like this
for millions of years. One theory says a large object hit the earth
and it was responsibile for killing all of the dinosaurs. That would
not have changed the orbit of the earth verymuch. The effects of that
collision seem to have been clouds of dust that choked out the sunlight.
Many scientists think this is what killed the dinosaurs. If theorbit
of the earth changed we might have a very different climate, depending
on whether we were closer or farther from the sun. There appears to
be little chance for these things to occur. Good question.
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