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Antarctic Craters Reveal Asteroid Strike

Posted by michael on from the rock-of-ages dept.

dhuff writes "Scientists using satellites have mapped huge craters under the Antarctic ice sheet caused by an asteroid as big as the one believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs 65m years ago."

6 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Curious by erick99 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    From GPSWorld.com

    Most electronic compasses are based on sensors that are magnetometers. A magnetometer is a device for measuring the intensity of one or more components of the Earth's magnetic field.

    I would think that a great deal of electronic devices would have a problem if the earths magnetic field suddenly "flipped."

    Cheers,

    Erick

    --
    http://www.busyweather.com/
  2. Interception by panurge · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Perhaps this really is the time for NASA, the ESA, and Russia to pool their efforts to find a way of detecting, intercepting and deflecting comets and wandering asteroids that present a threat. The European Quijote Project seems to be a step in the right direction(as well as having a very witty title).

    Obviously, statistically the chance of an individual being killed by a major meteor strike is fairly low, perhaps lower than that of being killed in a terrorist attack and much lower than that of being killed on the roads. But it's the meteor strike that has the potential to kill perhaps 99% of the human race, and this latest evidence seems to suggest that the frequency of such impacts is higher than expected.

    --
    Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
  3. You really are missing something...... by TheAxeMaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    a lot of people believe that the 65m impact was centered over land NOT covered by ice and snow, as in the central point in which all current continents used to be connected (pangea).

    That impact would have crushed mountains and created enormous amounts of dust from them. The 780k impact hit a huge block of ice and snow, i.e. no dust to scatter in the first place. I really doubt it would have affected any land life at all, antarctica being so far from land inhabited by anything more than penguins and stuff. Ocean life probably got pretty roughed up at least close to the impact.

  4. Re:Curious by AstrumPreliator · · Score: 3, Insightful

    According to a story in the NY Times (covered on /.), Earth's magnetic field has weakened 10-15% since we started measuring 150 years ago. Maybe our grandkids will have to wear lead undies.

    Then again it might just be an insignificant fluctuation that happens every billion years or so. We have 150 years worth of data, the Earth is billions of years old, I don't think we're qualified to make assumptions.

  5. Location? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful
    The article doesn't say where in Antartica or even what conference. After much searching I found this which says,
    Using satellite technology to observe the Antarctic gravity field from thousands of miles above the earth, the international team of geophysicists found evidence of many large meteorite impact sites across the entire continent. Presenting their research to the International Geographical Congress in Glasgow this week, the results of the imaging revealed that the sites extend from the Ross Sea in the vicinity of the Pacific Ocean, to the Weddell Sea south of the Atlantic Ocean. However, those wishing to make a journey to Antarctica to see for themselves the craters left by the interstellar objects will be disappointed.
    That sounds like most of West Antarctica.
  6. Re:Curious by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Or course we don't have enough data. That's why I made a joke about lead undies and didn't declare the world was ending. The little data we have indicates that the decrease in field strength is accelerating. 10% is a significant drop. This is something we need to keep an eye on and take seriously.

    -B