• DOI:10.1038/308715A0
Corpus ID: 4267612

Extinction of species by periodic comet showers

@article{Davis1984ExtinctionOS,
  title={Extinction of species by periodic comet showers},
  author={M. Davis and P. Hut and R. Muller},
  journal={Nature},
  year={1984},
  volume={308},
  pages={715-717}
}

• M. Davis, P. Hut, R. Muller
• Published 1984
• Physics
• Nature

A 26-Myr periodicity has recently been seen in the fossil record of extinction in the geological past1. At least two of these extinctions are known to be associated with the impact on the Earth of a comet or asteroid with a diameter of a few kilometres (refs 2, 3). We propose that the periodic events are triggered by an unseen companion to the Sun, travelling in a moderately eccentric orbit, which at its closest approach (perihelion) passes through the ‘Oort cloud’ of comets which surrounds the… Expand

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