After decades of speculationsa new research has finally confirmed that the asteroid responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs came from the edge of the Solar System. The study, published in the journal Scienceis based on recent geochemical data obtained from the crater Chicxulubthe site of the impact that occurred 66 million years ago. This event catastrophic marked the end of the Cretaceous and began the Paleogenerepresenting the fifth of the great mass extinctions that have occurred in the last 540 million years, during which approximately 60% of living species disappeared.
How the asteroid’s origin was discovered
“We wanted to identify the origin of this impact,” he said. Mario Fischer-Goddegeochemist of the University Of Colony in Germany and lead author of the study. The investigation began with the analysis detailed analysis of rock samples from the time of the impact. The researchers then compared these samples to those from other impact sites, focusing on ruthenium, a metal that is extremely rare on Earth but abundant in extraterrestrial objects.
A Chemical Signature From Outside the Solar System
The rutheniumdue to its rarity on Earth, acts as a kind of chemical signature, indicative of materials from space. The researchers examined ruthenium isotopes, atoms of the metal with different numbers of neutrons in their nucleus, for to trace the origin of the asteroid. This isotopic analysis has allowed us to distinguish between asteroids that formed in the outer part of the Solar System, beyond the orbit of Jupiter, and those that originated in the inner regions.
The results of the study revealed that the asteroid responsible for the crater Chicxulub actually came from the borders of the Solar systembeyond the orbit of Jupiter. This discovery definitively excludes the theory according to which the impact could have been caused by a comet. The data collected have in fact allowed us to identify the characteristic isotopic signature of asteroids formed in the most remote regions of our planetary system.
New Scenarios for Understanding Dinosaur Mass Extinctions
Confirmation of the asteroid’s origin opens new horizons in the understanding of mass extinctions and the mechanisms that caused them. Know that an object from the edge of the Solar System had a impact so devastating to life on Earth suggests that similar events may have occurred at other times and on other planets. This increases the importance of monitoring and studying celestial bodies moving in the outer regions of our system, to prevent and better understand potential future risks.
Research led by Mario Fisher–Godde represents a significant step in understanding the events that shaped the history of the Earth and life on it. of it. The ability to identify the origin of an asteroid so distant from our planet not only solves an ancient mystery, but also reinforces the need to continue exploring and studying our solar system to better understand the dynamics that influence planetary evolution.
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