Monday, 26 September 2011

As a result of the WISE science team's investigation, the demise of the dinosaurs remains in the cold case files.

Nasa scientist Lindley Johnson
Infrared light allows more accurate size estimates of asteroids than visible light.
Scientists were able to establish that the Baptistina asteroid actually broke up closer to 80 million years ago, half as long as originally proposed.
This result means the remnants had only 15 million years to get flung down to Earth to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Nasa scientist Amy Mainzer said: "This process is thought to normally take many tens of millions of years."
Dinosaur
Dinosaur doubts.
Another Nasa expert, Lindley Johnson, said: "As a result of the WISE science team's investigation, the demise of the dinosaurs remains in the cold case files.
"The original calculations with visible light estimated the size and reflectivity of the Baptistina family members, leading to estimates of their age, but we now know those estimates were off.
"With infrared light, WISE was able to get a more accurate estimate, which throws the timing of the Baptistina theory into question."
So the asteroid family that produced the dinosaur-killing remnant remains at large.
Evidence that a 10km asteroid hit Earth 65 million years ago includes a huge, crater-shaped structure in the Gulf of Mexico and rare minerals in the fossil record, which are common in meteorites but seldom found in the Earth's crust.

0 comments:

Post a Comment