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Harvard researchers believe comet, not asteroid, may have killed off dinosaurs

dinosaur
Posted 12:29 AM, Feb 16, 2021
and last updated 12:29 AM, Feb 16, 2021

Researchers from the Center for Astrophysics theorize that a comet, not an asteroid, is to blame for killing off the dinosaurs on Earth.

In a press release, researchers said the Chicxulub impactor might be responsible for the extinction.

According to their findings, the comet smashed into Earth about 66 million years ago, leaving behind a crater off Mexico's coast that spans 93 miles and is 12 miles deep.

"Its devastating impact brought the reign of the dinosaurs to an abrupt and calamitous end by triggering their sudden mass extinction, along with the end of almost three-quarters of the plant and animal species living on Earth," the researchers said in a press release.

The study, which was published Monday in Nature’s Scientific Reports, stated that an icy comet flew too close to the sun, then was bumped off-course by Jupiter's gravitational field during orbit then sent a fragment crashing down to the Earth.