The experts always told us it would be better to have one big rock hit us than a million smaller ones.
The little ones can burn up as they descend through the atmosphere. The big ones just get hotter and gain energy for impact.
I’m not surprised that there is a debris field. As the spacecraft was getting closer, it was easy to see that the asteroid seemed to have a somewhat loose composition, almost like a giant ball of gravel.
“The experts always told us it would be better to have one big rock hit us than a million smaller ones”
I’d not heard that before but I’d rather be hit by 10 pounds of gravel than a 10 pound boulder.