Reply #13: Hey, it's not that bad "comets only rarely cause extinctions on Earth. " [View All]

[jakeXT]

Newly Discovered Cometary Route Sneaks Past Jupiter, but Decreases Risk of Earth Impacts

Astronomers have used the comet record — including 2001 RX14 (Linear) at left, captured in 2002 by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey — to model a new route for incoming comets that sneaks past Jupiter's gravity.

The pathway might even be the dominant one that delivers Oort Could comets on an Earth-bound trajectory, say the authors of a new study in Science this week — but if that's true, comets only rarely cause extinctions on Earth.

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/07/30/newly-discovered-cometary-route-sneaks-past-jupiter-but-decreases-risk-of-earth-impacts/#more-36371