Zeroing In On the Source Of The Impactor That Wiped Out The Dinosaurs Source: SwRI
Impact event
The impactor believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs and other life forms on Earth some 66 million years ago likely came from the outer half of the main asteroid belt, a region previously thought to produce few impactors.
Researchers from Southwest Research Institute have shown that the processes that deliver large asteroids to Earth from that region occur at least 10 times more frequently than previously thought and that the composition of these bodies match what we know of the dinosaur-killing impactor.
The SwRI team including Dr. David Nesvorný, Dr. William Bottke and Dr. Simone Marchi combined computer models of asteroid evolution with observations of known asteroids to investigate the frequency of so-called Chicxulub events. Over 66 million years ago, a body estimated to be 6 miles across hit in what is now Mexico s Yucatan peninsula and formed Chicxulub cr
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