New Theory Suggests Comet, Not Asteroid, Caused Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub
KEY POINTS
The long-period comet responsible for it could have originated from the Oort cloud
It s possible that the impact was caused by a fragment of the comet that broke apart
What really killed the dinosaurs millions of years ago? The researchers of a new study are proposing a new theory to explain what the Chicxulub impactor might have been and where it really came from.
It is believed that the Chicxulub impact, which left a crater in modern-day Mexico, led to the dinosaurs
mass extinction event some 66 million years ago. But exactly what caused the impact and how it ended up hitting Earth remains a mystery.
KUOW - Dinosaur-Killing Impact Came From Edge Of Solar System, New Theory Suggests
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What killed the dinosaurs and where did it come from?
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Not asteroid but comet strike 66 million years ago killed dinosaurs: Study
Whether it was an asteroid or a comet remained mystery for long but a new study confirms that it was a comet and not an asteroid that hit earth 66 million years ago leading to extinction of dinosaurs
By IANS
Are we facing another mass extinction event?
It s believed for long that the devastating impact of something huge that crashed into Earth 66 million years ago led to the extinction of dinosaurs, but the clarity on whether it was a comet or asteroid strike remained unsure for researchers.
The confusion may end now as a new theory suggests that long-period comets originating from the Oort cloud, an icy sphere of debris at the edge of the solar system, could be behind the crash. Our paper provides a basis for explaining the occurrence of this event, said Avi Loeb from Harvard University and lead author of the study.
Asteroid news: Wednesday, February 16 witnesses a data with a gargantuan asteroid dubbed 2021 BS3 (Image: Express)
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In addition to the asteroid’s size and distance, NASA experts are also impressively able to provide an accurate sense of its speed.
Using their cutting-edge technology, the space agency confirms the body to be travelling at 10.37 km/s or 23,197mph.
To put this into perspective, this asteroid is so fast, it is shooting through space ten times faster than a bullet fired from a gun.
But such speeds are actually the norm in the extreme environment of space.
Asteroid news: More is now known about the space rock responsible for the Chicxulub crater (Image: Getty)