And now, scientists hypothesize that Earth may have sported its own ring some 466 million years ago.
Scientists previously believed that a large asteroid broke apart within the solar system, creating the meteorites that hit Earth during the Ordovician Period.
The space rock is commonly referred to as a “mini-moon” due to it coming within 2.8 million miles (4.5 million kilometers) of the planet.
Also, the suggested Earth ring would have “had to be the result of the disruption of a much larger body as the authors indicate in their paper,” he added in an email, so the asteroid, likely about 37 feet (11 meters) in diameter, could not have made a new ring for Earth.
However, “this ring formation event we think may have happened only once in the last 500 million years.”
Persons:
CNN —, “, ”, Andrew Tomkins, Tomkins, Roche, Earth’s, landmasses, Vincent Eke, ” Eke, PT5, Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, la Fuente Marcos, ” Tomkins
Organizations:
CNN, Monash University, NASA, Institute, UK’s Durham University, Complutense University of Madrid
Locations:
Melbourne, Australia, Earth’s Roche
![Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Denise-Chow-Byline-Jm.Jpg](/find/mix/0?q="Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Denise-Chow-Byline-Jm.Jpg"){kind=link}