The asteroid theory developed, it would in fact be a comet that would have shattered on Earth and would have caused the dinosaurs to disappear.
The number of theories about why dinosaurs died is endless (it may need an account, but we won’t do it today), but for a few years the scientific community agreed to one of them: A giant asteroid could have smashed to Earth (in the worst possible place to do the most damage), Resulting in Gigantic disaster It is followed by a period without sun or light (and other environmental disturbances) that would lead to the disappearance of plants (and 50 to 75% of all other life), vegetative dinosaurs (feeding on plants) and carnivorous dinosaurs (feeding on vegetative dinosaurs).
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If the theory itself does not change, according to ArsTechnica, Scientists recently discovered that it wouldn’t be a A piece of the asteroid belt It is located between Mars and Jupiter, but a comet would have been destroyed on Earth.
Comets that “patronize the sun”
66 million years ago, an astronomical body From 10 to 15 km It shattered in the Yucatan Peninsula, creating a crater Chicxulub and This caused a chain reaction that ended the reign of the dinosaurs on EarthThey have gone for a long time, as a recent study showed.
A new study published by a team from Harvard University and the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the journal Scientific Reports, Announces that the destroyed asteroid will actually be A guilty destroyer Coming from the Oort Cloud. This cloud is a belt of icy objects as it lies around The outer edge of the solar systemAway from the sun and its heat. In this cloud, we find many “long-range comets” that we sometimes place Millions of years To go around the sun.
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While most of them stay wisely in their orbit, some are drawn to C.Jupiter’s hemp for cuteness Then it deflects towards the interior of the solar system with the risk of crossing the planets that we find there. Scientists call these comets “Sangers” or in French ‘Shepherds of the sun’ Because they are rushing towards our star. According to the study, 20% of comets coming from this cloud are sun surfers. The Danger of touching the ground On their journey from the far reaches of the solar system to the real sun. According to their statistical calculations (based on probabilities only), an effect (greater or lesser) could occur.Every 250,000 to 730,000 years.
Arguments for and against the guilty theory
This theory about the comet is supported by observations on Earth. Analytics Compositions in the hole Left by the shock in the Yucatan Peninsula showed a strong presence of carbonic chondrite (carbon-rich and ferrous bodies) that are only found in 10% are asteroids From the belt when the main formation of comets. In fact, Samples from Comet Wild 2 in 2006 revealed that the comet has a composition similar to that on Earth.
However, not all members of the scientific community agree. Like the The New York Times Natalia Artemieva, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Planetary Sciences in Tucson, Arizona, explains: This hypothesis is not supported. The 6.5-kilometer-wide comet fragments reported in the study could not have created the Chicxulub crater.
The origin of the heavenly body that wiped out the dinosaurs may not have been resolved yet, but the fascination with these animals that ruled 190 million years on Earth certainly has not ended!
