Eccentricity, impact velocity, and impact angle of pebbles at the moment of collision with the planet as a function of starting position within the collision cross-section. The orbits in the presence of an atmosphere (blue) are significantly circularised compared to the orbits in the absence of an atmosphere (red), reducing the mean eccentricity from 0.708 to 0.432. However, the black dots in the top panel show the minimum eccentricity during the trajectories with an atmosphere, which is almost zero, indicating that at some point the eccentricity increases again. The impact velocity in the presence of an atmosphere is slightly below the circular velocity, while without an atmosphere it is equal to the velocity of the final orbits at periapsis. The latter, in combination with the almost perfectly tangential impacts of atmosphere-less pebbles, shows that the orbital decay without an atmosphere is minimal. With an atmosphere, the impact angle is at about ±70°. This, in combination with the slightly sub-Keplerian impact velocity, signifies a strong orbital decay in the final stage of the orbit right before impact.