Chicxulub impact structure

Exoplanet collision likely stripped away a terrestrial world’s atmosphere

21 October 2021 Astronomy Now

Researchers observe what may be the aftermath of a titanic collision in a solar system 95 light years away that stripped the atmosphere from a terrestrial planet.

Dinosaur-killing impactor likely came from outer asteroid belt

9 August 2021 Astronomy Now

Modelling suggests the impactor believed to have triggered the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs likely originated in the outer asteroid belt.

Oldest known asteroid impact may have played role in ending ancient ice age

24 January 2020 Astronomy Now

A heavily-eroded impact structure in Western Australia – Yarrabubba – is now known to be the oldest of the world’s roughly 190 known major impact sites.

Link found between comet/asteroid showers and mass extinctions

21 October 2015 Astronomy Now

For more than 30 years, scientists have argued about a controversial hypothesis relating to periodic mass extinctions and impact craters on Earth caused by comet and asteroid showers. Now scientists conclude that these events show a cyclical pattern over the studied period, with both impacts and extinction events taking place every 26 million years.