Asteroid collision

An impact between asteroids that can fragment them, reshape them, or combine their material. Its outcome depends on impact speed, angle, and the bodies’ sizes and internal structure.

Impact cratering: The formation of a crater when an object strikes a planetary or smaller solid body. Collisions can excavate craters when the impact does not destroy either asteroid.
Asteroid: A small rocky or metallic body orbiting the Sun, most commonly found in the main asteroid belt. Asteroids are the bodies whose mutual impacts define this event.
Meteorite: A fragment of extraterrestrial material that survives passage through an atmosphere and reaches a planetary surface. Some meteorites are fragments excavated from asteroid collisions and later delivered to Earth.
Dinkinesh moon Selam: A small contact-binary moon discovered orbiting the asteroid Dinkinesh by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft. Its formation may involve rotational mass shedding following an earlier impact or disturbance.
Catastrophic disruption: The breakup of a body into fragments when an impact disperses enough material to overcome its gravitational binding. This is the collision outcome when an asteroid is shattered rather than merely cratered.
Asteroid belt: The broad region between Mars and Jupiter containing most known asteroids orbiting the Sun. Its large population makes repeated collisions possible over Solar System history.
Near-Earth object: An asteroid or comet whose orbit brings it relatively close to Earth’s orbit. Collisions can redirect fragments into near-Earth space.
Asteroid 4 Vesta: A differentiated asteroid in the main belt with a basaltic crust and a large impact basin at its south pole. The Rheasilvia basin records a collision that excavated material and produced many fragments.
Asteroid family: A group of asteroids sharing similar orbits and physical properties, often descended from one disrupted parent body. Fragments from a major collision can spread into a recognizable family.
Orbital resonance: A gravitational relationship in which orbiting bodies complete orbital cycles in a ratio of small whole numbers. Resonances can alter asteroid orbits and raise collision speeds or rates.

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