February 2021 Meeting Report
Our speaker tonight was James Fragley who spoke to us about objects which can hit the earth. He started by explaining to us where they come from and what they look like and are made of. They could be asteroids of which there are many types and comets.
The chance of different sizes of objects was discussed and then the theory that something hit us which created the moon. There are several very large impact craters on Mars and also ones on the Noon and Mercury which we can see. It may be surprising to learn that Venus seems to have as many impact craters as the Earth, around 900. Did you know that Callisto is the most cratered body in the Solar System with a 360km wide crater.
Returning to earth it was interesting to see where the large craters are located on Earth and James went through some of the objects that have collided with the earth and the craters or devastation they have left behind. Depending on the size of the object determines what impact it would have on the earth. Were you aware this thought there have been 5 mass extinctions. James concluded by discussing if there was anything that we could do to stop one of these objects hitting the earth, my favourite was to paint it!