COSMIC CONNECTIONS

A Killer Asteroid

There is compelling evidence that 65 million years ago Earth was struck by an asteroid about 10 km in diameter. This impact triggered a biological cataclysm that wiped out 85% of all plant and animal species on our planet. [From “The Day the World Burned” by D. A. Kring and O. O. Durda, Scientific American, December 2003: art by Chris Butler]