Dinosaur-killing asteroid was likely a giant mudball, study says

What the findings mean for the future

Impacts of the scale of Chicxulub happen only every 100 million to 500 million years. 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.

Carbonaceous chondrites often contain water, clay and carbon-bearing compounds and make up the majority of rocks in space, but only about 5% of the meteorites that fall to Earth belong to this category.

Dona Jalufka

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