Jamie Carter is an award-winning reporter and experienced stargazer who covers the night sky, astro-tourism, the northern lights and space exploration. He received the 2023 Popular Media Award from the American Astronomical Society's Solar Physics Division and is the author of A Stargazing Program for Beginners. Writing for Forbes.
Scientists have found evidence that Earth may have once had a ring system similar to Saturn’s. It appears to have existed about 466 million years ago and may have both rained down meteorites on Earth ’s surface and caused an ice age.
That’s an anomaly that conventional theories cannot explain. “We also see that layers in sedimentary rocks from this period contain extraordinary amounts of meteorite debris,” said Tomkins. During the Ordovician, Earth was continually struck by meteorites.The researchers think the multiple asteroid impacts were caused by one giant object coming close to Earth. When that happens, debris is the result. That’s because of the “Roche limit,” about 20,000 km from Earth.
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