The Dinosaurs They may have disappeared from Earth because of a comet, not one Asteroids, Supports a new study.
Responsibility of Harvard researchers published in scientific reports on Monday a Comet piece It almost fell to the ground 66 million years Previously: An object that created the Chicksulamp crater off the coast of Mexico, ending dinosaur rule and wiping out many species of plants and animals.
“It must have been a great sight, but the joke ended when the rock fell to the ground,” said Abraham Leb, a professor co-author at Harvard University.
Its origin, however, remains Puzzle: Where did the asteroid or comet come from, and how did it get to Earth?
In a study published in Scientific Reports, Amir Shiraz, a Harvard graduate astronomer, and Leb, an astronomer, introduced a new theory that could explain the origin and travel of matter.
Is used Statistical analyzes And Gravity simulations, Shiraz and Lepp believe that a significant portion of long-term comets originate from the icy Orthodox Cloud of various objects on the edge of the Solar System, which may be distorted by Jupiter’s gravitational influence.
“The solar system works like a pinball machine,” Shiraz explains. “Jupiter, the largest planet, sends incoming long-range comets into orbit and brings them very close to the Sun.”
These comets (called “sunscreens”) can receive them as they approach the sun. Strong forces They break into pieces, resulting in the formation of fragments. Therefore, if a large comet splits into several smaller pieces when it returns to the Earth’s cloud, it is more likely that one of these fragments will fall to Earth, Shiraz said.
New calculations from Shiraz and Leip theory increase the likelihood of long-term comets falling to Earth About 10 times, And show that 20% of comet macrophages become “sunscreens”.
According to two researchers, the rate of impact they reach is commensurate with the age of the chixulamp, which provides a satisfactory explanation for its origin – as well as other materials.
“Our scientific article provides a basis for explaining the occurrence / frequency of this phenomenon,” says Leb. “In practice, we show that if you disconnect a comet as it approaches the sun, it will have the right speed of events and the effect of killing the dinosaurs.”
The findings from the crater indicate that the material was made of carbon concrete and that the theory of two researchers may explain this unusual recommendation. A popular theory about the origin of matter is that it came from the main asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. However, carbonaceous chondrites are rare on major band asteroids, but are more common among long-term comets.
Other similar craters represent a similar structure – an object that collapsed about 2 billion years ago and remains behind the crater. Brentfort Inside South AfricaThe largest confirmed crater in Earth’s history and the one abandoned by the Zamanzin crater in Kazakhstan is the largest confirmed crater in the last one million years. The researchers say that the timing of these collisions with the calculations of the comets coincides with the size of the chixulamp undergoing these processes.
However, other researchers disagreed with the findings of the new study.
Dinosaurs may have been killed by a comet instead of an asteroid, Megan Marbles / CNN
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