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Simulations
Impact craters form when huge asteroids or comets, sometimes kilometers in size, hit the surface of a planetary body. Images of various planets and moons in the solar system show thousands and thousands of impact craters on their surfaces. Impact craters can also be reproduced on a smaller scale. Laboratory experiments can create craters that are centimeters to meters in size, by launching small projectiles against solid targets at high speeds, just like firing a bullet into a board. Unfortuntately, laboratory experiments are limited by the size and speed of the projectile. While images of planetary surfaces do show the result of impacts, they do not provide us with information on the impactor and the impact event itself. Computer models have played a very important role in understanding the process of impact cratering, providing a connection from laboratory scale impacts (i.e., craters centimeters to meters in size) to the large planetary scale events (kilometers to hundreds of kilometers in size), which allows scientists to verify their understanding of the process, the physical laws that govern it, and the characteristics that influence the final outcome of the impact event.
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