The truth about the "invaders" from the giant planet world

(NLDO) - The truth about Chicxulub - the "killer" asteroid that caused the dinosaurs to disappear - has just been discovered.

Chicxulub is the name of a giant asteroid that crashed into Earth 66 million years ago, causing a chain of devastating events that wiped out dinosaurs on the continents, as well as pterosaurs in the sky and ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs... of the sea.

We know about Chicxulub through a giant impact crater that straddles Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, extending into a surrounding sea.

Chicxulub itself remains a mystery, as it broke apart during the collision.

The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was a rare "invader" from the gas giant planets that inhabited it - AI illustration: Anh Thu

Now, a new study led by geochemist Mario Fischer-Gödde from the University of Cologne (Germany) has lifted the veil on the mystery of this "killer".

The article published in the scientific journal Science asserts that Chicxulub followed an extremely winding path before "invading" Earth.

The scientists' study focused on a mineral called ruthenium. Some isotopes of this mineral can be found in boundary sediments from the Cretaceous and later Paleogene periods.

The boundary between these two periods is 66 million years ago, right after the collision occurred.

According to Science Alert, ruthenium from five different locations was brought to the lab for isotope analysis: One location in Spain, one in Italy, and three from the Stevns Chalk Cliffs in Denmark.

The authors also analyzed ruthenium from five other impacts over the past 541 million years, as well as spherulites (small pieces of meteorite that fall off when rock melts in the heat of the atmosphere) dating to 3.5–3.2 billion years ago.

The results showed that the ruthenium isotope ratios from the sediment layer containing the Chicxulub asteroid remnant best matched those of a rare type of asteroid called a carbonaceous chondrite.

These asteroids are not located in the area around Earth but in the "outer solar system", that is, the area outside the orbit of Jupiter, home to the cold, gas giant planets.

These results finally revealed the identity of the space rock that caused the disaster.

In the Solar System, the space where small rocky planets such as Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars reside is quite peaceful due to the existence of the "guardian angel" Jupiter.

This giant planet, with its powerful magnetic field, acts as a barrier to prevent asteroids from the outer solar system from invading the peaceful inner region.

However, some "invaders" occasionally managed to squeeze through, albeit broken into many small pieces.

With an estimated diameter of about 10 kilometers, the giant Chicxulub is still just a fragment of a much larger parent body.

However, this "invader" is still enough to cause devastating effects equivalent to 1 million atomic bombs, trigger super tsunamis, cause mass volcanic activity, and cause sudden climate change...

Source: https://nld.com.vn/chan-tuong-ke-xam-lang-tu-the-gioi-hanh-tinh-khong-lo-196240817073424172.htm