Comets Can Break Apart
As comets pass through the inner solar system, they can be broken into pieces by Jupiter's gravity. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was broken into 20 pieces, each of which collided with Jupiter in one of the most spectacular examples of interplanetary impacts in recorded history.
Photo courtesy NASA/JPL
Photo courtesy NASA/JPL
Recently, comet LINEAR was also broken into fragments by the sun's gravity as it passed the sun.
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