About how fast is an asteroid going when it hits a planet?
1 Answer
Probably rather variable, but of magnitude similar to
Explanation:
I think it would be quite variable depending on the circumstances, but similar in order of magnitude to the speed with which the Earth orbits the sun.
Let's do a few rough calculations:
The Earth is roughly
So the length of the Earth's roughly circular path around the Sun is about
The Earth travels this path in about
Divide by
To get meters per second multiply by
Compare this with the speed at which comet Shoemaker-Levy collided with Jupiter, which is estimated at