Chicxulub: Scientists identify asteroid type behind dinosaur extinction

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. While the Chicxulub asteroid landed tens of millions of years ago, learning about this ancient space rock is important because it’s “part of a bigger picture of understanding the dynamic nature of our Solar System,” said study coauthor Dr. Steven Goderis, a research professor of chemistry at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. “This forms this tiny clay layer you can recognize everywhere in the world, and it’s basically the same instant in time, 66 million years ago.” Dinosaur-killer asteroid chemical makeup revealed Asteroids come in three major varieties, each with their own chemical and mineral makeup: metallic, stony and chondritic. But because there is still an outside chance of Earth crossing paths with another asteroid or giant meteorite, Goderis said that it’s good to know “the physical and chemical properties of these objects, to think about how to protect ourselves” from a collision with a large space rock. Young noted that the researchers’ assessment that the asteroid was a carbonaceous chondrite “is a robust conclusion.” Kate Golembiewski is a freelance science writer based in Chicago who geeks out about zoology, thermodynamics and death.