Impact event

An impact event is a collision between astronomical objects causing measurable effects . Impact events have physical consequences and have been found to regularly occur in planetary systems, though the most frequent involve asteroids, comets or meteoroids and have minimal effect. When large objects impact terrestrial planets such as the Earth, there can be significant physical and biospheric consequences, though atmospheres mitigate many surface impacts through atmospheric entry. Impact craters and structures are dominant landforms on many of the Solar System's solid objects and present the strongest empirical evidence for their frequency and scale.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact event
• http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/11/eaar8173