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The collision of NEOs with the Earth has occurred throughout our planet's 4.5 billion year history. Larger impacts have left scars on the Earth's surface in the form of craters and would have had catastrophic effects. The more frequent smaller collisions sometimes leave little trace even though, they too, can cause intense damage.
Scientists study the craters and the rocks generated by past impacts to learn how collisions effect the Earth and its environment. The information gleaned from rocks, together with calculations of the physics of impacts, provide the only means of deciding just how much of a hazard collisions represent.
The collision of Near Earth Objects is thought by many scientists to have had a significant effect on life on Earth. Large impacts, capable of changing the Earth's climate, have, for example, probably been responsible for mass extinctions of living species. The sweeping away of the old by impacts during Earth history may have allowed living things to evolve in new directions. Collisions may even have had an important part to play in the origins of life on our planet.
Rollover the buttons to view craters around the world
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