Dinosaur-killing asteroid came from rare, distant class of meteorites, scientists find

Scientists say the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs came from a rare class of distant meteorites

Fossilized nestling hadrosaurids at Sotheby's auction house in New York City, U.S. Jul 1, 2026. REUTERS/Jordan Tovin

Scientists have identified the rare type of space rock behind the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, according to new research from the University of British Columbia (UBC).

The 6m-wide Chicxulub asteroid struck what is now Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, wiping out roughly three-quarters of life on Earth.

Researchers traced its chemical makeup to a carbon-rich rock type that makes up only about 5 percent of meteorites found on Earth.

The study, published Friday, analysed a thin clay layer left by the impact.

An international team, including scientists from Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and Université de Paris, used it to reconstruct the asteroid's composition, reports The Independent.

"Being impacted by such a rare, distant projectile really underscores how unlucky the dinosaurs were," said Dr Philippe Claeys of UBC.

The asteroid likely came from near Jupiter or further out in the solar system, researchers said.

The findings cast doubt on an earlier theory that sulphur in the meteorite sparked fires, driving the extinction.

Instead, airborne debris was likely the main cause, blocking sunlight for years, Claeys said.

Writing in The Conversation, academics Monica Grady and Michael Benton said creatures near the crater would have died instantly, while those up to 2,000km away would have been killed by intense heat and hurricane-force winds.

Some scientists point to long-term climate change or volcanic activity as other contributing factors.