Astrophysics was once so crazy in love with Earth, it put a ring on it.
But the engagement didnt last, and the halo formation fell away.
They concluded that it was incredibly unlikely the alien bodies originated from an asteroid belt.
This artist’s rendition could have been somewhat like what the view of the sky was like 460 million years ago, minus the trees and contrails (of course).© Kevin Gill via Wikimedia Commons
Its not as crazy as it might sound.
Earth is actually notable for its lack of a ring system.
Its a sign that the material came from meteorites resulting from a single asteroid breaking up.
They also looked at the locations of the craters.
They determined the chances of the impacts being random were minuscule, at just 1 in 25 million.
Instead, it was the result of a near-impact with a very large asteroid 466 million years ago.
We also see that layers in sedimentary rocks from this period contain extraordinary amounts of meteorite debris.
As the meteorites fell to Earth, the dust they generated would also have contributed to cooling.
There wouldnt have been much life, if any, capable of appreciating the halo overhead.
Land was largely barren, with only simple plants like mosses beginning to emerge.
Dating techniques show the craters that were studied mostly fell into two separate eras.
As the meteorites fell, our planet was definitely jumpin, jumpin.
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