First Evidence of Comet Striking Earth

For many years it was thought that if a comet stroked the planet, it would cause an imminent destruction of the Earth.  Against all thoughts, the first evidence of a comet striking Earth has been claimed to be found by scientists. After a series of analyses, the researchers determined that a mysterious black pebbled discovered years ago in the Egyptian desert was a piece of a comet nucleus. The pebble was named ‘Hypatia’ in honor of the ancient female mathematician, astronomer and philosopher. Jan Kramers, the study lead author, said it was a typical scientific euphoria when other opinions were eliminated and what it must be came to the realization.

Diamonds, which are produced from carbon material, are formed deep in the Earth. They require high pressure. Scientists said that when the comet impacted the Earth, the shock produced a high level of pressure which produced a diamond-like material.

It is thought that the impact occurred about 28 million years ago over Egypt. When the comet exploded, it produced levels of heat as of 3 630 degrees. It’s said that it also produced huge amounts of yellow silica glass across the Sahara Desert (around 6 000 square kilometers).

As a curious fact, a famous jewel from the pharaoh Tutankhamen was claimed to have a piece of the silica glass.  If Tutankhamen had a piece of the comet, it would be reasonable that he had more than one jewel made of the precious glass. But for the moment just one has been found.

Comets have been certainly striking the Earth many times over the planet’s long history. Besides from the Hypatia pebble, tiny dust particles in the upper atmosphere and carbon-rich dust in Antarctic ice are known as the rest of the cometary materials on Earth.

What’s a comet? A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, heats up and begins to produce gas, displaying a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are an effect of solar radiation and the solar wind on the nucleus of the comet. Comet nuclei range from a few hundred meters to tens of kilometers across and are composed of loose collections of ice, dust, and small rocky particles. If the comet is sufficiently bright, it may be seen from the Earth without the aid of a telescope. Also if its brightness is too low, it couldn’t, eventually, be seen with any special instrument.

NASA and the European Space Agency have been spending billions of dollars collecting micrograms of comet material and bringing them back to Earth. Comets are thought to be among the most primitive bodies left over from the solar system creation. NASA said a fundamental goal of cometary investigations was to understand their origin and nature in order to explore how they link with Earth and the role they cover in the universe.

As a conclusion, Kramer said the project was meant to establish a base for further research on comets and the universe itself. He plans to continue working on the subject and expects new people to be added to the crew.

• Do you think comets could cause severe damages to our planet?
• Have you ever seen a comet? When?
• Do you know any astronomic research on your country? If so, what is it about?

*Answer via comment.

Source: Space.com