Asteroid that wiped out dinosaurs struck Earth at 'deadliest possible angle'

(StarsInsider) “Our simulations provide compelling evidence that the asteroid struck at a steep angle, perhaps 60 degrees above the horizon, and approached its target from the north-east,” Professor Collins said. “We know that this was among the worst-case scenarios for the lethality on impact, because it put more hazardous debris into the upper atmosphere and scattered it everywhere – the very thing that led to a nuclear winter.” The simulation was created by feeding geophysical data from the 200km-wide Chicxulub crater in Mexico, which determined the angle and direction the asteroid hit. Co-author Dr Auriol Rae of the University of Freiburg said: “Despite being buried beneath nearly a kilometre of sedimentary rocks, it is remarkable that geophysical data reveals so much about the crater structure – enough to describe the direction and angle of the impact.” The results of the study are published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.