Scientists have discovered that the Chicxulub asteroid, a carbonaceous chondrite from outside the solar system, caused the mass extinction of dinosaurs 66 million years ago. The collision led to the planet being covered in ash and fatal climate changes.
The asteroid's origin was determined by measuring ruthenium isotopes in sediment samples from the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. It was found to be a C-type carbonaceous asteroid that formed beyond Jupiter's orbit and created the Chicxulub crater.
This research refutes the previous theory of a comet impact. Similar C-type asteroids may have impacted Earth billions of years ago, while more recent impacts were caused by asteroids from within the solar system.
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