Sun's Movement Through Milky Way Regularly Sends Comets Hurtling, Coinciding With Mass Life Extinctions
Friday, May 2, 2008 - 09:21
in Astronomy & Space
A new study suggests the solar system passes through the plane of the galaxy every 35 to 40 million years. The period coincides with evidence of crater impact and mass extinctions on Earth. The paper suggests gravitational forces from gas and dust clouds in the galactic plane send comets into the inner solar system and into the path of the Earth. The periods of comet bombardment also coincide with mass extinctions, such as that of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Our present position in the galaxy suggests we are now very close to another such period.