The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs might have had a little help. Geologists have confirmed that a second asteroid hit Earth at about the same time. It wasn’t nearly as big as the dinosaur killer, but it would’ve had deadly effects across a large area.

An asteroid as big as a mountain slammed into Earth 66 million years ago. A fireball, shockwaves, and tsunamis destroyed everything within hundreds of miles. The impact also blasted huge amounts of water and rock into the atmosphere. That created acid rain, and blotted out the Sun for years. The combined effects may have killed off 75 percent of the life on Earth, including the dinosaurs.

Researchers discovered a possible second impact crater in 2022. They confirmed it last year. It’s a thousand feet below the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Africa. The crater is about five miles across – a mere dimple compared to the larger crater.

The crater probably was blasted out by an asteroid about 1500 feet in diameter. It hit at a shallow angle, at about 45,000 miles per hour. The impact would have wiped out everything across several thousand square miles. And a tsunami a half-mile high would have raced all the way across the Atlantic.

Scientists aren’t sure which impact came first. And they don’t know if the two asteroids are related. But it’s clear that two killer asteroids hit Earth 66 million years ago.

Script by Damond Benningfield