Could Earth have once had its own ring system, much like Saturn? A new hypothesis suggests that during the Ordovician period, about 466 million years ago, a temporary planetary ring may have formed due to a massive asteroid breaking apart within Earth’s Roche limit. This theory, supported by geological evidence of meteoritic debris and impact craters, could explain a cooling event and mass extinction. Could rings have played a role in Earth’s ancient climate?
- ancient equatorial impact craters
- asteroid breakup Earth Roche limit
- did Earth have rings
- Earth ancient ring system theory
- Earth cooling event ring theory
- Earth ring debris atmospheric drag
- Earth ring system hypothesis
- equatorial sunshade climate effect
- geologic evidence Earth rings
- Hirnantian glaciation trigger
- L-chondrite influx Earth
- mass extinction ring hypothesis
- meteoritic sediment Ordovician
- Monash University Earth rings study
- Ordovician meteor impacts
- Ordovician period space debris
- pbs space time
- planetary rings and mass extinctions
- planetary rings Roche limit
- ringed Earth mass extinction link
- temporary planetary rings Earth
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