When the asteroid that caused the K-T event hit the earth massive amounts of energy was released. In the ideal conditions, is it possible this could have thrown dinosaurs to the space and maybe even to the moon or to other planets? If so, is this likely?
2
-
$\begingroup$ I don't think so. Those who believe in it assume the asteroid to be about 7 mi (11 km) in diameter. I think that's nowhere close to the impact shown in the Armageddon movie intro. If an asteroid the size of Texas was to impact the Earth then dinosaurs who'd somehow survive the heat and blast could probably indeed be thrown into space. $\endgroup$– GiovanniCommented Dec 12, 2021 at 10:51
-
$\begingroup$ The "asteroid the size of Texas", incidentally, would be the largest asteroid Ceres, whose diameter is actually somewhat less than Texas but whose surface area is about the same since Ceres is a ball. In practice Ceres is in a stable orbit that never comes close to Earth; only much smaller asteroids have any likelihood of coming our way. $\endgroup$– Oscar LanziCommented Jan 12, 2022 at 19:24
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
4
We know that there are probably terrestrial meteorites on the Moon, which got there because of impacts on Earth sending debris flying. So asking whether dinosaurs ended up on the Moon is a legitimate question.
The answer, however, is probably a no. The things that were flown to space were rocks, which can survive an impact and high temperatures. Dinosaurs close enough to the impact to be theoretically launched into space would most like completely disintegrate and vaporise in an instant, and not survive in recognisable dinosaur form all the way to space.
Yes, it is possible that some of the dust that landed on the moon may contain remnants of dinosaurs or other living things (among mostly other inanimate things), but calling them "dinosaurs" is a bit of a stretch.
-
$\begingroup$ What if a dinosaur's body somehow were protected by rocks? Perhaps it died and was buried underground in some other catastrophe. $\endgroup$– PEKCommented Dec 14, 2021 at 18:51
-
1$\begingroup$ If you're asking whether rocks containing dinosaur fossils, which were already fossils when the asteroid hit, could have been launched to the moon, then the answer is yes. $\endgroup$– GimelistCommented Dec 14, 2021 at 22:42
-
1$\begingroup$ That would depend on the velocity of the impactor. I personally doubt a 7-mile-asteroid would have been fast enough to cause ejecta reach escape (or translunar) velocity. $\endgroup$– GiovanniCommented Dec 15, 2021 at 10:04
-
$\begingroup$ Isn't most of the ejecta for an impact of this size initially in the form of plasma? In which case, you could probably not even reasonably call them fossils? $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 16, 2021 at 16:52