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Researchers studying the solar wind at the University of Bonn suggest that the Dinosaurs may have become extinct due to climatic changes caused by space weather, reports Space Daily. Professor Hans Jorg Fahr, from the Bonn Institute of Astrophysics and Extraterrestrial Research, suggests the Earth's climate may have been changed as our solar system passed through a dense cloud of interstellar particles. Cosmic particles collided with air molecules in our atmosphere and broke them up. The resulting charged particles then acted as nuclei for water droplets producing a dense cloud cover capable of changing the global climate, suggests Prof Fahr. Our solar system passes through such clouds once every 60 million years. Many alternative theories exist to explain the disappearance of the Dinosaurs. The presence of a 170 km diameter crater in the Gulf of Mexico, however, indicates that the impact of a large comet or asteroid with the Earth coincided with the extinction of a large proportion of species 65 million years ago. Models of this impact suggest it caused severe environmental affects that would have been sufficient to explain the extinction. Large volcanic eruptions that were occurring in the Deccan of India at this time may have also contributed to the climatic catastrophe.
More info: Space Daily
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