October 4th 2024.
Millions of years ago, not one, but two asteroids struck the Earth, causing a catastrophic event. This has been a widely accepted theory, that a massive asteroid hit the planet and led to the extinction of dinosaurs. But new research has revealed that there was another asteroid that also hit the Earth during the same era, causing further devastation.
The smaller asteroid is believed to have crashed into the ocean near West Africa, creating another catastrophic event. Dr. Uisdean Nicholson from Heriot-Watt University discovered that this impact would have triggered a 2600 foot tall tsunami that swept across the Atlantic Ocean. It's hard to imagine the sheer force and destruction that would have been caused by such an impact.
The second asteroid's impact created a crater that has been named the Nadir crater, which was first discovered in 2022. This crater, located off the west coast of Africa, is only 9km wide compared to the 180km-wide Chicxulub crater in Mexico, which is known to have wiped out the dinosaurs. Dr. Nicholson explains that the impact would have been equivalent to an asteroid hitting Glasgow while being in Edinburgh, about 50km away. The resulting fireball would have been 24 times the size of the Sun in the sky, enough to set trees and plants on fire in Edinburgh.
It's hard to imagine what the dinosaurs would have felt or known as these catastrophic events took place. The impact would have been followed by seismic quakes equivalent to a magnitude 7 earthquake. It must have been a terrifying and chaotic time for all living beings on Earth.
One of the most intriguing questions is why these two asteroids hit the Earth so close together. It's rare for asteroids to hit Earth in general, let alone two in such a short time span. Dr. Nicholson and his team are still trying to understand the reason behind this phenomenon. The discovery of the Nadir crater has provided new insights, and Dr. Nicholson describes it as an exciting opportunity to see inside an impact crater for the first time.
This catastrophic scenario of Earth being hit by a sizeable asteroid is not just a morbid thought exercise. In five years, an asteroid larger than the 330-meter Eiffel Tower will pass by Earth, coming closer to us than TV satellites. It will skim within 20,000 miles, which is considered a stunning near miss. This asteroid, known as 99942 Apophis, was named after the Egyptian god of chaos and destruction due to the initial concern that it might collide with Earth when it was first discovered in 2004. Although models have shown that it will fly back out into space, there are still other asteroids of this size in the solar system, and we don't know how many or where they could be heading. This highlights the importance of continued research and monitoring of potentially hazardous asteroids.
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