Evidence of dinosaur-killing asteroid impact found on the moon - Space.com

Asteroid impacts on the moon millions of years ago correspond with large space rock strikes here on Earth — including the massive impact that wiped out the nonavian dinosaurs. .

Instead, these asteroid strikes were accompanied by a series of smaller hits both here and on the moon, whose surface is littered with over 9,000 craters left by space rock impacts. .

Scientists from Curtin University's Space Science and Technology Centre (SSTC) in Australia obtained the results by studying microscopic glass beads within lunar soil samples returned to Earth by China's Chang'e-5 lunar mission in 2020.

These tiny glass beads were created by the intense heat and pressure generated by meteor strikes.

While doing this, the SSTC team found that both the timing and the frequency of the asteroid impacts on the moon were mirrored by space rock strikes on Earth, meaning the timeline the team built could also provide insight into the evolution of our planet. .

The ages of some of the lunar glass beads indicated they were created around 66 million years ago, around the time the dinosaur-killing asteroid, known as the Chicxulub impactor, struck Earth in what is now the Gulf of Mexico, near Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. .

The new research from SSTC joins other work suggesting that this monster dinosaur-killing space rock may have been joined by other, smaller asteroids that also struck Earth and that could be revealed by studying the moon's history of asteroid impacts. .

"The study also found that large impact events on Earth, such as the Chicxulub crater 66 million years ago, could have been accompanied by a number of smaller impacts," Nemchin said.

This analysis could reveal other impact events across the moon and, in turn, help to uncover signs of asteroid impacts here on Earth that may have affected life. .