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About 65 million years ago, a space rock as big as Mount Everest hit Earth. It slammed into what is now Mexico’s east coast. It exploded with 10,000 times the force of all of today’s nuclear weapons combined.
Any creature within 1,000 miles died instantly. A cloud of dust encircled the Earth. It blotted out the Sun, and the sky grew dark. Within weeks, any animal larger than a medium-size dog was dead.
Most scientists say that impact made the dinosaurs become extinct. Not everyone agrees. But there’s no doubt that big objects do hit our planet. Each year, about 10,000 tons of space debris falls on Earth. Most of it is dust or small rocks. But every so often, something really big zooms toward Earth.
