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Comet Hazard to the Earth

S. I. Ipatov
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Abstract

Migration of trans-Neptunian objects to the Earth is considered. Due to the gravitational influence of large trans-Neptunian objects and mutual collisions, some objects can get such orbits, from which they can be moved inside the Solar System under the gravitational influence of planets. About 10-20% or even more 1-km Earth-crossers could have come from the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt and can move in Jupiter-crossing orbits. The number of former trans-Neptunian objects that cross the Earth's orbit moving in orbits with aphelia inside Jupiter's orbit can be of the same order of magnitude. A total mass of icy planetesimals delivered to the Earth during formation of the giant planets can be about the mass of the Earth's oceans.

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S. I. Ipatov. 2001-08-10. Comet Hazard to the Earth. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0273-1177(01)00494-x

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