100km asteroid exploded in the solar system and changed Moon and Earth 800mn years ago

For decades, scientists have noticed a pattern in the Moon's craters that points to something massive that happened 800 million years ago. They may have finally solved the mystery and believe an asteroid about 100 kilometres in diameter could be to blame. Researchers have pointed out that this mammoth rock broke into several pieces after a catastrophic collision. Today, we know this family of asteroids as Eulalia.

Asteroids smash into other cosmic objects and explode all the time. But this particular asteroid was very near the 3:1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter when this happened. This means that an object at this point would go around the Sun three times in the time that Jupiter takes to do once. This point is a gravitational escape for the asteroid belt from where objects can be flung into planet-crossing regions throughout the solar system. Also Read: Latest findings on meteorite that killed dinosaurs proves just how unlucky they were

When this mammoth asteroid struck something, fragments were thrown to the J3:1 point, from where they reached the inner solar system. A non-gravitational thermal acceleration force known as the Yarkovsky effect sent more of these pieces inwards over the next 150 million years. This led to a major bombardment of the planets in the inner region. The team of researchers said that most of the Near-Earth asteroids, such as Ryugu and Bennu, have come from this collision.

The biggest proof of this activity comes from the Moon. It is marked with several craters, and 800 million years ago there was a sudden spike in crater formation. Copernicus crater, a 93-kilometre-wide ditch, was made during this time. The samples collected by Apollo astronauts also showed tiny glass beads made from intense impacts. Their radiometric ages have been dated to around 800 million years ago. Also Read: Our Sun was missing its silver. Scientists finally know what went wrong

How asteroid rain impacted Earth

Meanwhile, Earth's higher gravity would have meant that our planet would have witnessed 20 times the collisions witnessed by the Moon. Researchers said that at exactly the same time, the Bitter Springs Anomaly occurred on our planet. Earth’s carbon cycle was disrupted, which they now believe was because of an increased amount of asteroid dust in the atmosphere. This happened just before the “Snowball Earth” glaciation period.

On Mars, massive volcanic calderas sprang upright around 800 million years ago, and led to a planetary surge in volcanic eruptions. On Venus, around 650 million years ago, the event sparked a catastrophic volcanic resurfacing event. However, scientists admit that tying these planetary events to the asteroidal activity needs extraordinary evidence.