Artist’s illustration of a comet on its way to Earth.
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Avi Loeb, Harvard’s most controversial astronomer, has a new theory about the space rock that the dinosaurs took out. He says there is reason to believe that it comes from further afield than previously accepted.
Loeb has been making waves for several years by reasoning the first interstellar object Oumuamua can be an idiosyncratic piece of alien technology from far beyond our solar system. But his latest newspaper has nothing to do with it.
Amir Siraj, an undergraduate student in astrophysics at Harvard University, suggests in a new study published Monday in Scientific Reports that the Chicxulub Impactor, which ended the reign of thunder lizards, came from the edge of our own solar system .
According to a popular theory about the demise of the dinos, the impact probably comes from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but Loeb and Siraj use statistical analyzes and gravitational simulations to calculate that more Earth impactors originally from the distant Oort cloud originated. long-term comets come out.
The couple’s calculations suggest that such comets could hit the orbit on their journey to the inner solar system, with potentially catastrophic consequences.
“The solar system serves as a kind of pinball machine,” Siraj explained in a statement. “Jupiter, the most massive planet, kicks incoming long-term comets into orbits that bring them very close to the sun.”
So-called sungrazer comets can then be torn apart by the gravity of the sun.
“And very importantly, on the journey back to the Oort cloud, there is a greater likelihood that one of these fragments will hit the earth,” Siraj said.
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Questions and answers with Harvard’s Avi Loeb about our alleged alien …
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According to the research, the chance of such an impact is significantly higher than previously thought, and that the new impact rate corresponds to the age of the Chicxulub impact crater in the Gulf of Mexico. A comet fragment from the Oort cloud also agrees better with the unusual composition of the impact than an asteroid closer to home.
Even more important than solving the mystery about what killed the dinosaurs, Loeb says that a deeper understanding of natural motion from deep space could also be important if a potential impact were to threaten our planet in the future.
“It must have been a wonderful sight,” he said, “but we do not want to see it again.”
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