A team of scientists claim to have discovered a black pebble in the Egyptian Sahara Desert that proves that the first comet to strike the Earth landed here.
They have based their conclusions following extensive analysis of an unusual piece of black rock found in an Egyptian desert that is now determined to be part of the nucleus of a comet that was likely the first to strike the Earth’s atmosphere.
The study was conducted by a team of researchers based in South Africa at the University of Johannesburg.
The researchers have nicknamed their pebble “Hypatia” in honor of a mathematician and astronomer who lived in Alexandria thousands of years ago. Scientists also reveal that the pebble specimen is covered with diamonds, most likely created by the shock caused when the comet hit the Earth with such a high degree of pressure.
There are no eyewitnesses to the historic event, however, as the team calculates that the first comet to strike Earth occurred about 28 million years ago. When the comet exploded, scientists estimate the sand in the Egyptian desert reached a temperature exceeding 3600 degrees and spread a field of silica glass across more than 2300 square miles of the Sahara.
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