• Question: What is the planet that uses gravitational force to throw meterites towards the Earth?

    Asked by conn207 to Antonia, Douglas, Hugh, Matt, Tom on 15 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Hugh Roderick

      Hugh Roderick answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      All the planets are capable of altering the course of a meteorite by their gravitational pull, but Jupiter as the largest planet in the solar system has the largest effect on meteorites

    • Photo: Matthew Hurley

      Matthew Hurley answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      Meteorites end up on earth (or burnt up in it’s atmosphere) by being pulled in by the earths’ gravitational field.

    • Photo: Tom Hardy

      Tom Hardy answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Mars has a belt of asteroids outside it’s orbit. Sometimes if small pieces of rock or dust are throw off their trajectory they can come into range of the Earth’s gravitational pull. This is what we see as shooting stars. Many burn during their decent, but many also make it to Earth.

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