Asteroid that killed Dinosaurs has struck the Moon

Dinosaurs went extinct around 65 million years ago, after living for approximately 165 million years on Earth. Now, there is an evidence which shows the proof of a similar asteroid that struck the dinosaurs and go extinct on earth. It has also been stuck on the moon. The proofs were collected by China's Chang'e-5 spacecraft, reveling these startling facts.

Scientists and researchers from Curtin University discovered, while studying lunar soil that the major impacts and events on Earth were not stand-alone events but were accompanied by a series of smaller impacts.

The samples were brought to Earth in 2020 and were shared with all global research communities in order to gain a better understanding and deeper knowledge about the moon.

According to a study published in Science Advances, silicate glass particles formed either during volcanic eruptions or by impact melting are present in all lunar soils. Scientists combined a wide range of analytic techniques, numerical modeling, and geological surveys to determine how these microscopic glass beads from the Moon were formed and when.

When compared to the ages of some of the major terrestrial impact crater events, such as the extinction of the dinosaurs due to the Chicxulub impact crater, scientists discovered that certain of the age groups of the lunar glass beads are exactly in line with those occurrences.

The team is now attempting to identify more important moon-wide impact events by comparing the information obtained from these Chang'e-5 samples with other lunar soils and crater ages. This could provide fresh information about the impacts that life on Earth has endured.

Published on: Friday, September 30, 2022, 07:13 PM IST