The Science Space ·
Silk Road

Oct 31
How long did it take the asteroid that created the Chicxulub crater here
on Earth take to get here from its origin?

This thing was no ordinary rock.

It's safe to say it was a world ender, about 10 km (6 miles) across that
hit the Earth with the force of about 10 billion Hiroshima bombs.

An obscene collision, that was enough to make a crater 180 km (110
miles) wide and 20 km (12 miles) deep, and to send a cloud of dust and
debris into the atmosphere that blocked out the sun for years.

This is the Chicxulub impactor.

Where did this thing come from?

No one really knows.

It could of came from the main asteroid belt, which is a bunch of rocks
orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.
Maybe it came from the Oort cloud, which is a sphere of icy bodies at
the edge of the solar system.
Some say it was a long-period comet that got kicked out of its orbit by
Jupiter and then got torn apart by the sun's gravity.

To try to figure this puzzle out, we can look at the composition of the
impactor, which can tell us something about where it formed.

If it was made of carbonaceous chondrite, which is a type of primitive
material that contains organic molecules, then it probably came from the
outer part of the asteroid belt or the Oort cloud.

If it was made of something else, like iron or nickel, then it probably
came from the inner part of the asteroid belt.

We can also look at the trajectory of the impactor, which can tell us
something about how it got here.

If it came from the main asteroid belt, then it probably had a
low-inclination orbit that was close to the plane of the solar system.

If it came from the Oort cloud, then it probably had a high-inclination
orbit that was tilted relative to the plane of the solar system.

And if it was a long-period comet, then it probably had a very eccentric
orbit that brought it very close to the sun and very far from it.

What we do know from recent studies, is that the Chicxulub impactor was
likely made of carbonaceous chondrite,

which suggests that it came from the outer part of the asteroid belt or
the Oort cloud.

We also now know that it had a high-inclination orbit of about 60
degrees, which suggests that it came from the Oort cloud or was a
long-period comet.

Now directly onto your question.

How long did it take for it to get here?

It depends on how fast it was going and how far away it was when it
started its journey.

If we assume that it was going at about 20 km/s (12 mi/s), which is
typical for comets and asteroids, then we can estimate how long it took
for it to travel different distances.

For example:

- If it came from the main asteroid belt, which is about 2-4 AU
(astronomical units) away from Earth, then it took about 3-6 months to
get here.

- If it came from the Oort cloud, which is about 20,000-100,000 AU away
from Earth, then it took about 3-15 million years to get here.

- If it was a long-period comet that got kicked out of its orbit by
Jupiter, then it could have taken anywhere from a few years to hundreds
of thousands of years to get here.

So there you have it. The Chicxulub impactor could have taken anywhere
from months to millions of years to get here from its origin, depending
on where and how it started its journey.

But no matter how long it took, we know one thing for sure: It changed
life on Earth forever.

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31 comments from
RedempKid
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Jack Robert
· Oct 31
What would you see if you stood directly below it when it fell ?

I’m guessing it would be insta-death, since it would arrive before its
own sound. It would seem like it teleported on the ground.

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Silk Road

· Oct 31
You wouldn't see it. Just evaporated into nothing.

Profile photo for Martin Dvorak
Martin Dvorak
· Oct 31
Don’t look up!

Profile photo for Robert Surface
Robert Surface
· Nov 1
Ah - no, you would see it. You’d see it for several minutes if not hours.
It was six miles or ten kilometers wide.

It was half the size of MALTA.
It would be a naked-eye object for a few minutes - swelling rapidly from
a bright star to a small shape a minute or so before impact.
5 seconds before impact it would be six times wider than the Moon, and
approximately the same brightness per “inch” so to speak - so it would
be about 40 times brighter than the full Moon.
10 seconds before, it would still subtend over three times the size of
the Moon.
Even 20 seconds before, it would be nearly twice as wide as the Moon.
In fact, it would be about as large as Venus in the sky over a hundred
seconds before impact (the smallest someone with good vision could see),
but somewhere in brightness between Jupiter and Mars at their brightest.

How early would you see it with the naked eye? That’s a bit trickier,
but at 20mi/s speed, at approximately as bright as the Moon (albedo
about 7%-ish, or as dark as old asphalt - the paler stuff, not the new
stuff), surely you’d see it at the Moon’s distance if you knew what to
look for.

And that distance would be about 12,000 seconds or so.

Here’s an excellent animation of what would likely be seen in real-time.

On 06.11.23 23:17, a425couple wrote:
> The Science Space ·
> Silk Road
>
> Oct 31
> How long did it take the asteroid that created the Chicxulub crater here
> on Earth take to get here from its origin?
>
> This thing was no ordinary rock.
>
> It's safe to say it was a world ender, about 10 km (6 miles) across that
> hit the Earth with the force of about 10 billion Hiroshima bombs.
>
> An obscene collision, that was enough to make a crater 180 km (110
> miles) wide and 20 km (12 miles) deep, and to send a cloud of dust and
> debris into the atmosphere that blocked out the sun for years.
>
> This is the Chicxulub impactor.
>
> Where did this thing come from?
>
>
> No one really knows.
>
> It could of came from the main asteroid belt, which is a bunch of rocks
> orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.
> Maybe it came from the Oort cloud, which is a sphere of icy bodies at
> the edge of the solar system.
> Some say it was a long-period comet that got kicked out of its orbit by
> Jupiter and then got torn apart by the sun's gravity.
>
> To try to figure this puzzle out, we can look at the composition of the
> impactor, which can tell us something about where it formed.
>
>
> If it was made of carbonaceous chondrite, which is a type of primitive
> material that contains organic molecules, then it probably came from the
> outer part of the asteroid belt or the Oort cloud.
>
> If it was made of something else, like iron or nickel, then it probably
> came from the inner part of the asteroid belt.
>
> We can also look at the trajectory of the impactor, which can tell us
> something about how it got here.
>
>
> If it came from the main asteroid belt, then it probably had a
> low-inclination orbit that was close to the plane of the solar system.
>
> If it came from the Oort cloud, then it probably had a high-inclination
> orbit that was tilted relative to the plane of the solar system.
>
> And if it was a long-period comet, then it probably had a very eccentric
> orbit that brought it very close to the sun and very far from it.
>
> What we do know from recent studies, is that the Chicxulub impactor was
> likely made of carbonaceous chondrite,
>
>
> which suggests that it came from the outer part of the asteroid belt or
> the Oort cloud.
>
> We also now know that it had a high-inclination orbit of about 60
> degrees, which suggests that it came from the Oort cloud or was a
> long-period comet.
>
> Now directly onto your question.
>
> How long did it take for it to get here?
>
> It depends on how fast it was going and how far away it was when it
> started its journey.
>
> If we assume that it was going at about 20 km/s (12 mi/s), which is
> typical for comets and asteroids, then we can estimate how long it took
> for it to travel different distances.
>
> For example:
>
> - If it came from the main asteroid belt, which is about 2-4 AU
> (astronomical units) away from Earth, then it took about 3-6 months to
> get here.
>
> - If it came from the Oort cloud, which is about 20,000-100,000 AU away
> from Earth, then it took about 3-15 million years to get here.
>
> - If it was a long-period comet that got kicked out of its orbit by
> Jupiter, then it could have taken anywhere from a few years to hundreds
> of thousands of years to get here.
>
>
> So there you have it. The Chicxulub impactor could have taken anywhere
> from months to millions of years to get here from its origin, depending
> on where and how it started its journey.
>
> But no matter how long it took, we know one thing for sure: It changed
> life on Earth forever.
>
> 30.4K views
> View 705 upvotes
> View 14 shares
> 1 of 6 answers
> 31 comments from
> RedempKid
> and more
>
> Jack Robert
> · Oct 31
> What would you see if you stood directly below it when it fell ?
>
> I’m guessing it would be insta-death, since it would arrive before its
> own sound. It would seem like it teleported on the ground.
>
> Profile photo for Silk Road
> Silk Road
>
> · Oct 31
> You wouldn't see it. Just evaporated into nothing.
>
> Profile photo for Martin Dvorak
> Martin Dvorak
> · Oct 31
> Don’t look up!
>
> Profile photo for Robert Surface
> Robert Surface
> · Nov 1
> Ah - no, you would see it. You’d see it for several minutes if not hours.
> It was six miles or ten kilometers wide.
>
> It was half the size of MALTA.
> It would be a naked-eye object for a few minutes - swelling rapidly from
> a bright star to a small shape a minute or so before impact.
> 5 seconds before impact it would be six times wider than the Moon, and
> approximately the same brightness per “inch” so to speak - so it would
> be about 40 times brighter than the full Moon.
> 10 seconds before, it would still subtend over three times the size of
> the Moon.
> Even 20 seconds before, it would be nearly twice as wide as the Moon.
> In fact, it would be about as large as Venus in the sky over a hundred
> seconds before impact (the smallest someone with good vision could see),
> but somewhere in brightness between Jupiter and Mars at their brightest.
>
> How early would you see it with the naked eye? That’s a bit trickier,
> but at 20mi/s speed, at approximately as bright as the Moon (albedo
> about 7%-ish, or as dark as old asphalt - the paler stuff, not the new
> stuff), surely you’d see it at the Moon’s distance if you knew what to
> look for.
>
> And that distance would be about 12,000 seconds or so.
>
> Here’s an excellent animation of what would likely be seen in real-time.
>
>
>
From space, likely a member of the asteroid belt.
Or maybe from he Oort cloud.
Least likely from outer space.

Sjouke Burry wrote on 7/11/23 10:39 am:
> On 06.11.23 23:17, a425couple wrote:
>> The Science Space · Silk Road

<Snip>

>> How early would you see it with the naked eye? That’s a bit
>> trickier, but at 20mi/s speed, at approximately as bright as the
>> Moon (albedo about 7%-ish, or as dark as old asphalt - the paler
>> stuff, not the new stuff), surely you’d see it at the Moon’s
>> distance if you knew what to look for.
>>
>> And that distance would be about 12,000 seconds or so.
>>
>> Here’s an excellent animation of what would likely be seen in
>> real-time.
>>
> From space, likely a member of the asteroid belt. Or maybe from he
> Oort cloud. Least likely from outer space.

How far Oort ('out') do you need to go to be in 'outer space'?? ;-P
--
Daniel