The craters of the moon, solid planets and solar system satellites, are perfectly circular indicating that they are the result of head on (perpendicular) impacts with wandering asteroids. Since the gravitational force of those bodies is not infinite, one should expect that tangential encounters are also possible, the kind that would merely glance at the surface and leave in its wake elongated trails on it. Yet it seems that there are no traces of such slanted contacts. Why?
2007-12-18
16:05:57
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6 answers
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asked by
Buho
1