asteroid impact
Cosmic body strike
An asteroid impact is the collision of an asteroid with a planet, moon, or other celestial body.
On Earth, such events have shaped geological and biological history—the asteroid impact 66 million years ago caused mass extinction, including the dinosaurs.
Scientists monitor near-Earth objects for potential impact threats: The crater in Arizona formed from an ancient asteroid impact.
- iridium layerMetal-rich geological stratum
- extinction eventCatastrophic biodiversity collapse
- extinction level eventCatastrophe causing widespread species loss
- mass extinctionLarge-scale species elimination
- meteoriteSpace debris reaching Earth
space rock · shockwave · nuclear winter · breccia · space telescopes · comet · bolide · fossil evidence · fireball · seismic activity · tsunami · climate change · crater · trajectory · catastrophe · doomsday scenario · explosion · debris
- space eventseclipse, solar eclipse, lunar eclipse, meteor shower, comet
- Earth history eventsice age, volcanic eruption, mass extinction, continental drift, dinosaur extinction
- Mesozoicdinosaurs, Velociraptor, Brachiosaurus, Spinosaurus, pterosaurs
- catastrophesdisasters, disaster, natural disasters, catastrophe, apocalypse
- celestial eventssolar eclipse, lunar eclipse, meteor shower, eclipse, supernova
- Disaster Films2012, Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow, The Towering Inferno, Twister
asteroid impactmeteor shower
Burst of falling stars
solar eclipse · near-miss · planetary alignment · aurora borealis · supernova
asteroid impactCambrian explosion
Sudden appearance of complex life