Massive Comet Hit Neptune

Neptune, the eighth and farthest planet from the sun in our solar system, was apparently struck by a comet nearly two centuries ago. This research has only recently been discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, an interplanetary space probe that has since gathered valuable information on the outer planets after being launched in 1977. Because Neptune is a gas giant, like Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, it is more difficult to detect impacts in the tiny cores of rock available. However, this particular evidence may prove that collision with gas giants are much more common than we originally expected.

In addition to the Neptune impact, Jupiter and Saturn have been recent victims to comets as well. In 1994, comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit Jupiter whilst evidence proves Saturn was hit nearly 300 years ago. Initially, researchers estimated that a comet of this size would only hit Jupiter every 6,000 years and Neptune every 8,000. It would be unlikely that all three gas giants would be hit within a 300 year span. However, after receiving information that Neptune was just hit, it appears that comets are much more common than we originally believed them to be.

It is estimated that the comet that hit Neptune was 1.2 miles wide, which would obviously create a very large impact. The 1997 collision with Jupiter was only half the size of this unnamed comet, yet would still release energy equivalent to 225,000 tons of TNT. Imagine a comet creating that destruction two fold, with a plume reaching nearly 1,200 miles high. I have included the link to the pictures below. Unfortunately, it is difficult to notice in a gas giant like Neptune. Imagine what a crater of this size would look like in a rock planet like Mars.

Picture of Neptune taken by the Voyager 2 space craft.