<p><strong>Question</strong>: Would the dense atmosphere and high surface pressure and temperature lead to a different result compared to what happened here on Earth?</p>
<p><strong>Short Answer</strong>: No. There will not be any significant difference between impact on Earth and Venus by the Chicxulub impactor</p>
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Chicxulub crater</a> is a large asteroid-impact that is estimated to be caused by an asteroid named Chicxulub, that the crater was 150 kilometers wide in diameter (to be specific the impactor is just 11 kilometer wide), and its impact on Earth is the second known largest impact in Earth's history. Talking about the scenario of its impact on Venus, there are a lot of factors affecting the intensity of impact, the pressure, the angle of impact and also the Gravity of Venus is very similar to Earth but its atmosphere is incredibly dense compared to Earth, so like @CarlWitthoft said in the comment, the impact-velocity on Venus' surface will be less (slightly?) compared to what it did on Earth. Most of the debris caused on the Venus will tend to move back to space, but its gravity and its dense atmosphere will again put the debris back to the Venus. It is said that the Chicxulub asteroid impact caused mega-tsunamis on Earth, but you cannot see tsunamis on Venus, since there are no oceans, but there will be an immense seismic activity. The velocity and the temperature together will vaporize some mass of the asteroid, but this factor is negligible, thus the temperature will not have a significant impact on the intensity of impact.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The impact created winds in excess of 1,000 kilometers per hour (620 mph) near the blast's center. The impact, expansion of water after filling the crater, and related seismic activity spawned megatsunamis over 100 meters (330 ft) tall, with one simulation suggesting the immediate waves from the impact may have been up to 1.5 kilometers (~1 mi) tall. The waves scoured the sea floor, leaving ripples underneath what is now Louisiana with average wavelengths of 600 meters and average wave heights of 16 meters, the largest ripples documented. Material shifted by subsequent earthquakes and the waves reached all the way to what are now Texas and Florida, and may have disturbed sediments as far as 6000 kilometers from the impact site. The impact triggered a seismic event equivalent to a Magnitude 12 earthquake at the impact site, with shockwaves generating the equivalent of Magnitude 9 to as high as 11 on the Richter scale.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Citation: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a></p>
<p>The seismic activity caused by the impact will be similar to that of Earth, for reference, will be around Magnitude 9 on Richter scale.</p>
<p>The composition of the asteroid mainly had carbonates, thus it will be accumulated in the Venus' atmosphere as Carbon-di-oxide along with sulfates and debris, will increase its temperature slightly by the green house effect</p>
<p>If it is taken that the Chicxulub Asteroid impacted the Venus at a velocity that it hit the Earth, it will not have a significant impact on Venus's Axial tilt, rotation speed <a href="https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/45368/if-theia-really-crashed-into-earth-did-it-impact-earths-axial-tilt">unlike what the hypothetical Great impact</a> had on Earth. Although its impact is said to have an energy of 100 million megatons of TNT, The average tilt of Venus can be changed less than 400th of a degree, and its rotation period should have a difference of just 600 milliseconds. And this &quot;small &quot;collision will not even have a small impact on its orbit.</p>
<p>Although this is still considered to be a moderate impact, the effects of these impacts will be short term on terrestrial planets like Venus and Earth.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-11T09:27:31.273Z
`The Chicxulub crater is a large asteroid-impact that is estimated to be caused by an asteroid named Chicxulub that was 150 kilometers wide in diameter,` That wording is a bit misleading. The crater is 150 km , the impactor "only" 10 km.
Nobody moving away from SE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-11T11:03:49.943Z
@NobodymovingawayfromSE yes. I edited it
Kavin Ishwaran
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-10T15:22:06.697Z
2022-02-11T12:07:51.147Z
2022-02-11T12:07:51.147Z
Kavin Ishwaran
<p>What would happen if Venus was hit by a Chicxulub-like meteor? Would the dense atmosphere and high surface pressure and temperature lead to a different result compared to what happened here on Earth?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-10T14:01:51.940Z
Yes. :-)  There'll be a dramatic slow-down as it hits the denser atmospheric layers, to begin with.  My bet is that the meteor will break up at a higher altitude & have less interaction with the ground.
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-10T14:50:45.837Z
FWIW, the orbital speed of Venus is ~1.176 that of Earth, and a body in freefall towards the Sun has a speed of $\sqrt 2$ times the circular orbital speed at that radius. Of course, the actual relative impact speed depends on the angle of the collision.
PM 2Ring
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-10T15:41:41.317Z
@PM2Ring If it fell a very long way in the solar system from rest, or a very slight nudge, it's likely to be very _close_ to that speed, but it won't be at _exactly_ $\sqrt{2}$ times circular orbit velocity on arrival  unless it was kicked up to _exactly_ local escape velocity on the initial nudge and no other gravitational influences come into play.
notovny
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-10T15:59:52.423Z
@notovny Sure. I just mentioned it as a rough estimate. My main point is that it's possible for the KE of a Venus impactor to be substantially larger than that of an Earth impactor.
PM 2Ring
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-10T20:53:37.730Z
You mean, something like [Eros](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/433_Eros)? Well, [let's go and find out!](https://youtu.be/Z7MBkJoowDg?t=11)! ;-)
Peter - Reinstate Monica
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-11T08:31:35.297Z
[Every dinosaur on Venus would die.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuous_truth)
Eric Duminil
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-12T12:08:05.127Z
@PM2Ring What are the consequences of your first comment?
d-b
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-12T12:51:27.520Z
@d-b Relative to the Sun, a body falling from the outer parts of the Solar System has more kinetic energy when it crosses the orbit of Venus, compared to the energy it has when crossing Earth's orbit. A collision with Venus would have around 1.38× more kinetic energy than a collision with Earth, for a given angle of the collision.
PM 2Ring
<venus><meteor><impact><chicxulub>
What would happen if Venus was hit by a Chicxulub-like meteor?
d-b
# What would happen if Venus was hit by a Chicxulub-like meteor?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-02-10)

What would happen if Venus was hit by a Chicxulub-like meteor? Would the dense atmosphere and high surface pressure and temperature lead to a different result compared to what happened here on Earth?

**Tags:** venus, meteor, impact, chicxulub
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Yes. :-)  There'll be a dramatic slow-down as it hits the denser atmospheric layers, to begin with.  My bet is that the meteor will break up at a higher altitude & have less interaction with the ground.  
> **username_2**: FWIW, the orbital speed of Venus is ~1.176 that of Earth, and a body in freefall towards the Sun has a speed of $\sqrt 2$ times the circular orbital speed at that radius. Of course, the actual relative impact speed depends on the angle of the collision.  
> **username_3**: @PM2Ring If it fell a very long way in the solar system from rest, or a very slight nudge, it's likely to be very _close_ to that speed, but it won't be at _exactly_ $\sqrt{2}$ times circular orbit velocity on arrival  unless it was kicked up to _exactly_ local escape velocity on the initial nudge and no other gravitational influences come into play.  
> **username_2**: @notovny Sure. I just mentioned it as a rough estimate. My main point is that it's possible for the KE of a Venus impactor to be substantially larger than that of an Earth impactor.  
> **username_4**: You mean, something like [Eros](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/433_Eros)? Well, [let's go and find out!](https://youtu.be/Z7MBkJoowDg?t=11)! ;-)  
> **username_5**: [Every dinosaur on Venus would die.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuous_truth)  
> **username_0**: @PM2Ring What are the consequences of your first comment?  
> **username_2**: @d-b Relative to the Sun, a body falling from the outer parts of the Solar System has more kinetic energy when it crosses the orbit of Venus, compared to the energy it has when crossing Earth's orbit. A collision with Venus would have around 1.38× more kinetic energy than a collision with Earth, for a given angle of the collision.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2022-02-10. Score: 9 | Accepted answer

**Question**: Would the dense atmosphere and high surface pressure and temperature lead to a different result compared to what happened here on Earth?

**Short Answer**: No. There will not be any significant difference between impact on Earth and Venus by the Chicxulub impactor

The [Chicxulub crater](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater) is a large asteroid-impact that is estimated to be caused by an asteroid named Chicxulub, that the crater was 150 kilometers wide in diameter (to be specific the impactor is just 11 kilometer wide), and its impact on Earth is the second known largest impact in Earth's history. Talking about the scenario of its impact on Venus, there are a lot of factors affecting the intensity of impact, the pressure, the angle of impact and also the Gravity of Venus is very similar to Earth but its atmosphere is incredibly dense compared to Earth, so like @CarlWitthoft said in the comment, the impact-velocity on Venus' surface will be less (slightly?) compared to what it did on Earth. Most of the debris caused on the Venus will tend to move back to space, but its gravity and its dense atmosphere will again put the debris back to the Venus. It is said that the Chicxulub asteroid impact caused mega-tsunamis on Earth, but you cannot see tsunamis on Venus, since there are no oceans, but there will be an immense seismic activity. The velocity and the temperature together will vaporize some mass of the asteroid, but this factor is negligible, thus the temperature will not have a significant impact on the intensity of impact.

> The impact created winds in excess of 1,000 kilometers per hour (620 mph) near the blast's center. The impact, expansion of water after filling the crater, and related seismic activity spawned megatsunamis over 100 meters (330 ft) tall, with one simulation suggesting the immediate waves from the impact may have been up to 1.5 kilometers (~1 mi) tall. The waves scoured the sea floor, leaving ripples underneath what is now Louisiana with average wavelengths of 600 meters and average wave heights of 16 meters, the largest ripples documented. Material shifted by subsequent earthquakes and the waves reached all the way to what are now Texas and Florida, and may have disturbed sediments as far as 6000 kilometers from the impact site. The impact triggered a seismic event equivalent to a Magnitude 12 earthquake at the impact site, with shockwaves generating the equivalent of Magnitude 9 to as high as 11 on the Richter scale.

Citation: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater)

The seismic activity caused by the impact will be similar to that of Earth, for reference, will be around Magnitude 9 on Richter scale.

The composition of the asteroid mainly had carbonates, thus it will be accumulated in the Venus' atmosphere as Carbon-di-oxide along with sulfates and debris, will increase its temperature slightly by the green house effect

If it is taken that the Chicxulub Asteroid impacted the Venus at a velocity that it hit the Earth, it will not have a significant impact on Venus's Axial tilt, rotation speed [unlike what the hypothetical Great impact](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/45368/if-theia-really-crashed-into-earth-did-it-impact-earths-axial-tilt) had on Earth. Although its impact is said to have an energy of 100 million megatons of TNT, The average tilt of Venus can be changed less than 400th of a degree, and its rotation period should have a difference of just 600 milliseconds. And this "small "collision will not even have a small impact on its orbit.

Although this is still considered to be a moderate impact, the effects of these impacts will be short term on terrestrial planets like Venus and Earth.

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: `The Chicxulub crater is a large asteroid-impact that is estimated to be caused by an asteroid named Chicxulub that was 150 kilometers wide in diameter,` That wording is a bit misleading. The crater is 150 km , the impactor "only" 10 km.  
> **username_6**: @NobodymovingawayfromSE yes. I edited it  

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