One less mystery: the origin of the asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs finally revealed

magictr | August 17, 2024 | News | No Comments

66 million years ago, planet Earth received an impact from space. An asteroid about ten kilometers across, leaving a crater 177 km in diameter, crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. Researchers have found the origin of the star that changed the course of life on our planet.

The pyramids of Giza, Easter Island, the Bermuda Triangle, there are so many mysteries that surround us and of which we have not elucidated all the secrets. In this summer period, a veil is lifted on a major stage in the history of our planet: the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Chicxulub, in the Gulf of Mexico

The impact between the asteroid and the planet, comparable to billions of Hiroshima bombs, caused a 15-year winter. 60 to 70% of species became extinct because of this event. The dimensions of the “killer” of dinosaurs are around 10 kilometers. And upon contact, a crater with a diameter of 177 kilometers traumatized the city of Chicxulub, in the Gulf of Mexico, as explained in the journal Science published this Thursday, August 15, 2024.

The point The fall of the asteroid has been analyzed, but the origin of the asteroid before it hits the Earth remains to be found. In our solar system, many asteroids orbit between Mars and Jupiter, but another belt lies after Neptune, the planet farthest from the Sun in the solar system.

The Kuiper Belt

A team of about fifteen researchers studied the rare minerals that have spread on Earth after the collision. Samples were taken in Denmark, Spain and Italy and then analyzed.

< em>“The projectile comes from the outskirts of the solar system”, said Philippe Claeys, a geologist at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) and co-author of the study, cited in the journal. Which means the asteroid came from the Kuiper Belt, behind Neptune.

The team analyzed five other impacts&nbsp ;asteroids, and the data showed that these came from the belt between Mars and Jupiter. “That means Chicxulub is quite abnormal, says Philippe Claeys. The dinosaur murderer is exceptional in its provenance, for now.”