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The Chicxulub Asteroid

Sixty-six million years ago, the dinosaurs looked up from their world-domination and saw something plunging from the sky. They couldn’t have known it, but their world was over. Here are a few links about current findings and theories of that day:

  • The New Yorker magazine, March 29, 2019 – this article discusses the possibility that a paleontologist may have found a large fossil trove from the actual day that the asteroid hit:
  • A BBC article that essentially summarizes the New Yorker article
  • A Space.com post that discusses the idea that it was an asteroid that struck
  • A Harvard Gazette article from February 2021 that instead theorizes a comet from the Oort Cloud smashing into the Earth
  • A Livescience.com post that talks about what probably happened in the moments and hours following the impact
  • And if you ever wondered how and why cockroaches survived the impact (which of course they did – they were there before it hit, and are still with us), here you go.

July 2021 Meeting

The Pearl Library is now allowing a maximum of 40 persons in their meeting room, so the Jackson Astronomical Association will hold our public meeting in person this Thursday, July 1, at 6:15 PM. The library is at 2416 Old Brandon Rd, Pearl, MS 39208. Please come join us and bring any questions you’ve been wanting to ask for the last 16 months!