About 65 million years ago, a space rock the size of Mount Everest hit Earth. It slammed into what is now Mexico’s east coast. The object exploded with 10,000 times the force of all of today’s known nuclear weapons combined.
Any creature within 1,000 miles of the blast died instantly. A cloud of dust encircled Earth and blotted out the Sun. Within weeks, any animal larger than a medium-size dog was dead.
That impact, according to most scientists, is how the dinosaurs became extinct. This theory is still debated, but there is no doubt that big objects do hit our planet. Each year, about 10,000 tons of space debris rain on us. Most comes in the form of dust or small rocks. But every so often, something really big zooms toward Earth.
