How Halley’s Comet Can Destroy Earth

An expert described in detail what would happen to Earth if it suddenly collides with the famous Halley’s Comet. He noted that the impact event that would be caused by the comet would be powerful enough to trigger a mass extinction.

As a comet, 1P/Halley, more commonly known as Halley’s Comet, is mainly a frozen ball of ice. Although it may not sound as intimidating as an asteroid made of rocky materials, what makes Halley’s Comet dangerous is its sheer size.

In a forum on Quora, space and science enthusiast Steven Stone noted that Halley’s Comet has an estimated diameter of almost 7 miles and travels at speeds of up to 156,000 miles per hour. The combination of its size and speed means that if it hits Earth, it could create a massive crater that’s 55 miles wide and 20 miles deep.

The initial impact from Halley’s Comet would generate a magnitude 10 earthquake, which is stronger than anything that has been recorded on Earth. But aside from this, the energy from the impact would generate blast waves traveling for hundreds of miles, incinerating everything in their path.

According to Stone, if Halley’s Comet hits London, most of the U.K. would get instantly obliterated. As for those in other countries such as the U.S., they will still experience some of the minor effects of the impact.

“Out past [621 miles] from the impact, clothes, people, trees, plywood all ignite, then get flattened by a shockwave that tears buildings apart and smashes trees,” he explained. “Across the pond in America over [3,620 miles] away, windows will shatter from the air blast and they’ll feel the ground shake, a little while later they’ll get a dusting of ejecta that had been sent into ballistic trajectories across the planet, coming to a depth of about 2mm.”

Aside from the U.S. and the U.K., the entire world will also experience the effect of the impact. The blast generated by the comet’s collision would be powerful enough to cover the atmosphere in smoke and debris. This would prevent sunlight from penetrating for a long time, which would trigger a nuclear winter.

The combination of the powerful explosion, lack of sunlight and clouds of dust in the air would cause many species of living things to die out. This would then affect the food chain and eventually trigger mass extinctions across different species in various parts of the world.