Scientists Just Discovered Earth's Oldest Asteroid Impact

Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid about 6 to 9 miles (10 to 15 kilometers) wide slammed into what is now Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, creating the Chicxulub crater. It released the energy of billions of Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs in a matter of seconds, making it one of the most catastrophic events in Earth’s history. Fortunately, impacts of this size are extraordinarily rare. Scientists estimate that a Chicxulub-sized asteroid strikes Earth only about once every 100 to 200 million years