Tweet

contextphobic Context:

Evidence suggesting that earth had a ring in the Ordovician

Earth may have had a ring during the middle Ordovician, from ca. 466 Ma.

Breakup of an asteroid passing within Earth’s Roche limit likely formed the ring.

Among several features preserved is a near-equatorial band of impact craters.

Shading of Earth by the ring may have triggered a global icehouse period.

  • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    2 months ago

    As an aside, we’re living in the perfect time to observe Saturn’s rings. They’re super young, less than 100M years old by even by oldest estimates. 100M is practically a blink of an eye by geological standards, let along interstellar standards.