- 4542 - ASTEROID HITS EARTH? - A large asteroid impacting Earth was the “Chicxulub event” that caused the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, 66 million years ago. But there is an intense debate surrounding this rock that killed the dinosaurs has stirred scientists for decades.
------------------------------------------ 4542
- ASTEROID HITS
EARTH?
-
- Researchers used an innovative technique to
demonstrate that the apocalyptic culprit which slammed into the Earth's surface
66 million years ago, causing this most recent mass extinction, had formed
beyond Jupiter's orbit. They also refute
the idea that it was a comet.
-
- The new insights into the apparent asteroid
that cratered into Chicxulub, in what is present-day Mexico's Yucatan
Peninsula, could improve the understanding of celestial objects that have
struck our planet. This asteroid
initially formed beyond Jupiter.
-
- The new findings are based on analysis of
sediment samples formed at the period between the Cretaceous and Paleogene
eras, the time of the asteroid's cataclysmic impact. Researchers measured the isotopes of the
element ruthenium, not uncommon on asteroids but extremely rare on Earth. By inspecting the deposits in multiple
geological layers that mark the debris from the impact at Chicxulub, they could
be sure that the ruthenium studied came "100 percent from this
asteroid."
-
- This was the first time new study
techniques were used on impact debris layers.
Ruthenium isotopes can be used to distinguish between the two main
groups of asteroids: C-type, or carbonaceous, asteroids that formed in the
outer solar system, and S-type silicate asteroids from the inner solar system,
nearer the sun.
-
- The study affirms that the asteroid that
triggered a mega-earthquake, precipitated a global winter and wiped out the
dinosaurs and most other life, was a C-type asteroid that formed beyond
Jupiter. The conclusions are striking,
because most meteorites, pieces of asteroids that fall to Earth are S-types.
-
- Does that mean the Chicxulub impactor formed
beyond Jupiter and made a beeline for our planet? Not necessarily. We cannot be really sure where the asteroid
was hiding just before it impacted on Earth.
It may have made a stopover in the asteroid belt, located between Mars
and Jupiter and where most meteorites originate.
-
- This study dismisses the idea that the
destructive impactor was a comet, an icy rock from the very edge of the solar
system. Sample analyses now show that
the celestial object was far different in composition from a subset of
meteorites which are believed to have been comets in the past.
-
- Defining the nature of asteroids that have
struck Earth since its beginnings some 4.5 billion years ago could help solve
the enigma of the origin of our planet's water.
They believe water may have been brought to Earth by asteroids, likely
of the C-type like the one that struck 66 million years ago, even though they
are less frequent.
-
- If we find that earlier mass extinction
events could also be related to C-type asteroid impacts, then... if there's
ever going to be C-type asteroid on an Earth-crossing orbit, we have to be very
careful because it might be the last one we witness.
-
- This asteroid initially formed beyond
Jupiter. These new findings are based on
analysis of sediment samples formed at the period between the Cretaceous and
Paleogene eras, the time of the asteroid's cataclysmic impact.
-
- Researchers measured the isotopes of the
element ruthenium, not uncommon on asteroids but extremely rare on Earth. So by
inspecting the deposits in multiple geological layers that mark the debris from
the impact at Chicxulub, they could be sure that the ruthenium studied came
"100 percent from this asteroid."
-
- Ruthenium isotopes can be used to
distinguish between the two main groups of asteroids: C-type, or carbonaceous, asteroids that
formed in the outer solar system, and S-type silicate asteroids from the inner
solar system, nearer the sun.
-
- The study affirms that the asteroid that
triggered a mega-earthquake, precipitated a global winter and wiped out the
dinosaurs and most other life, was a C-type asteroid that formed beyond
Jupiter. Most meteorites, pieces of
asteroids that fall to Earth, are S-types.
-
- If there's ever going to be C-type asteroid
on an Earth-crossing orbit, we have to be very careful, because it might be the
last one we witness.
-
-
August 20, 2024 ASTEROID
HITS EARTH? 4542
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--------------------- --- Thursday, August 22,
2024
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