Giant Impacts Help Rocky Planets Retain Their Atmospheres
· universetoday.com · popularity 27/100 · 0 similar stories today · Space & Astronomy (Space & Astronomy)
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Summary
For a long time, planetary scientists thought that giant impacts drove a young planet's atmosphere away into space with all the heat they generated. But it turns out the opposite could be true. The mass a young planet gains through a giant impact increases its gravitational hold on its atmosphere.
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