New research casts doubt on the late heavy bombardment
Friday, January 6, 2012 - 10:31
in Astronomy & Space
Was the early solar system bombarded with lots of big impacts? This is a question that has puzzled scientists for over 35 years. And its not just an academic one. We know from rocks on Earth that life began to evolve very early on, at least 3.8 billion years ago. If the Earth was being pummeled by large impacts at this time, this would certainly have affected the evolution of life. So, did the solar system go through what is known as the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB)? Exciting new research, using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) may cast some doubt on the popular LHB theory.