would it be possible for this to affect earth?

Question

lets say an enormous asteroid the size of earth comes and smashes into Mars, could that impact us? how? or is it too far away?

how about if it hit Jupiter, i would imagine it would be worse?

also what are the odds of an event like this happening, a planet killer asteroid striking one of the other 8 planets

Answer 1

Provided the impact was energetic enough, this would undoubtably spray debris all over the inner solar system, although most of the remains would probably just coalesce back into a single planet. Call it Novo Mars

On the other hand, the odds that any single piece of ejecta would actually hit the earth or other planets are rather small. Compared to the size of the solar system, the Earth makes a small target (imagine a marble in the center of a football field....) Eventually most of the debris would either fall into the sun, or be ejected from the solar system; only a very tiny percentage of the wreckage would hit Earth.

Most likely, for the next several years we would be treated to some pretty spectacular meteor showers. The energy of such an impact is so great, that most ejected material tend to be pretty well pulverized. Perhaps a few of the fragments would be large enough to cause serious damage, but I don't think it would be the end of life as we know it.......unless you were an astronaut on Mars at the time.

On the plus side, once gravity pulled mars back together, it would now be more massive, and would probably have a much thicker atmosphere, making it more suitable for colonization, and for terraforming in the distant future.

Answer 2

there is an asteroid belt orbiting around Sun right behind Mars. some believe it was created by a similar event you suggest, a planet orbiting there was destroyed by a powerful impact, e.g. large enough asteroid. It's unlikely that a planet would be "pulverized" into dust, it would most likely split into a collection of various size rocks. some of those are likely to hit Earth with a detrimental impact. furthermore, absence of a large planet like Mars won't go unnoticed. it would change the gravitational equation between the planets in the solar system, possibly causing Earth to change its orbit. even a slight change might create a change in the temperature detrimental to living things.

in any case, it would be a spectacular sight for quite a few hours.

Answer 3

We would probably, as a species, be destroyed.

Mars would be totaled - the combined debris would fan out in all directions, with the primary debris field in the general direction of the impact. (Visualize a straight line drawn thru the center of impact, traced back on the asteroid's trajectory.)

This debris would circle the Sun on some sort of elliptical orbit that would HAVE to cross the orbit of the Earth somewhere along the orbital path. Even if 1% of the debris impacts Earth, this would be the equivalent of the Moon impacting the surface.

Can you say, "Crispy Critters!"

Only survivors would be in orbit around Juipter or Saturn.

Answer 4

Well, Earth's pretty big - it wouldn't be an asteroid.

Possibly, smashing into Mars would send some chunks into space, and eventually, they may fall to Earth. Probably wouldn't have MUCH effect, but... some.