One of the oldest units of the galaxy may have finally been solved thanks to a simulation-driven super-sleuthing from Harvard University. In this case, we may now know the origin of the Chicxulub crater.
Experts have long believed that the majority of dinosaur species became extinct after a massive asteroid, responsible for the Chicxulub crater near Mexico, hit Earth about 66 million years ago. But a new theory indicates that the asteroid, according to scientists, is believed to have ended the reign of Rex was not a solitary local rock, but a waste of a much larger body that originated in the outskirts of the solar system. More, they also believe that it could only affect the Earth after Jupiter interfered with the original harmless orbit.
In other words: Jupiter saw the opportunity to throw the first stone, and it did. According to Harvard simulations, the host giant’s gravity was enough to knock the comet off course and send a torment to Earth. Before the impact, the original piece shattered, and fortunately only a small piece was able to hit our planet. That ‘tiny’ piece was about 80 km wide and left a crater about 20 or 30 km deep – basically it’s like the whole city of Boston was tossed from space to the ocean near Mexico.
The impact wreaked havoc on sea levels, tsunamis caused severe storms, wildfires and engulfed the earth in an atmosphere of soot and precipitation. The results of this global catastrophe included the extinction of most large lizard creatures and the end of the dinosaur era.
But where does the asteroid come from? Scientists of earlier times believed that it must have come from a belt between Jupiter and Mars, but new research suggests that this is highly unlikely. Due to the chemical composition of impact deposits that occur in the crater and where others and asteroids of similar or larger size struck, scientists believe that it probably originated in the Ear Cloud, a distant group of planetisms that are on the edge of our solar system. .
The Harvard team figured it all out by testing their theory on computer simulations to understand the path that such an asteroid would have to take to impact our planet.
By press release from a university:
Using statistical analysis and gravity simulations, [Harvard researchers] Loeb and Siraj say that a significant fraction of a kind of comet originating from the Oort cloud, a debris at the edge of the solar system, during the orbit was naturally bumped by Jupiter’s gravity and sent close to the sun, the tidal power of which pieces of rock break apart. It increases the rate of comets like Chicxulub (pronounced Chicks-uh-lub) because these fragments cross the Earth’s orbit and hit the planet once every 250 to 730 million years.
Quick take: Jupiter is a while. If it could keep its gravity to itself 66 million years ago, we would drive to work with pterodactiles and move down with a giant brontosaurus to hit the parking lot after we stopped time. Again, if we consider that we will never know how many asteroids our giant gaseous planet saved us from because we are saturated and in the way … maybe we should just be thankful that we had a long enough window between extinction level- consequences for mankind to reproduce and flourish.
You can find the team’s study here.
Posted on February 15, 2021 – 21:57 UTC