Key Facts

• The asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago near Chicxulub, Mexico.
• It caused mass extinction by changing the global climate and burning living things.
• The impact released energy over a billion times stronger than atomic bombs dropped in 1945.
• Rock droplets called spherules fell through the atmosphere, creating intense heat like a broiler oven.
• New research found fine dust from the impact heated the atmosphere even more than thought before.
• This dust radiation likely burned dinosaur skin and caused heat strokes.
• The heat from the dust was enough to ignite plants, leading to widespread wildfires.
• The impact's timing in spring may have worsened species extinction by disrupting breeding cycles.