Chicxulub impactor

The Chicxulub impactor (also known as the K/Pg impactor and sometimes speculatively referred to as the Chicxulub asteroid) was an asteroid or another celestial body between 11 to 81 kilometres in diameter. It struck the Earth at the end of the Cretaceous period, creating the Chicxulub crater. Because of the timing coinciding it is presumed to have caused the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.

Its 150 kilometre impact crater is one of the largest known craters on Earth.

Popular Culture

Appearances

Variants

The following list is of explicit appearances of the Chicxulub impactor.

Year	Name	Appearance	Notes
1982	Briggs' freighter	Doctor Who, episode "Earthshock"	The Fifth Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, Nyssa, and Adric fought the Cybermen aboard a freighter programmed to collide with Earth in the year 2526. Adric managed to accidentally send the ship through time to 65 million years in the past, where the ship was still pre-programmed to collide with Earth. Adric was unable to prevent the ship's impact with Earth.
1991	Meteor	Back to the Future, episode "Forward to the Past"	Dr. Emmett Brown (Dan Castellaneta) unwittingly destroys the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, and is forced to return to the past to recreate the event.
1993		Super Mario Bros.	The force of the impact causes the creation of a parallel reality with a parallel Earth, leading to an alternate New York City populated by anthropomorphic dinosaurs known as Dinohattan.
1999	Asteroid	Walking with Dinosaurs, "Death of a Dynasty"	The asteroid strikes, killing off the dinosaurs.
2005	What killed the dinosaurs	Justice League Unlimited, episode "The Once and Future Thing, Part Two: Time, Warped"	Time traveling supervillain Chronos (Peter MacNicol) abandons treacherous goon Chucko (Don Harvey) in the age of the dinosaurs. The laser sword-wielding clown proudly proclaimed that he would take over the planet, but soon noticed the approaching asteroid and was killed on impact.

Variants

The following list is of parodies of the Chicxulub impactor, which may or may not be readily apparent.

Year	Name	Appearance	Notes
2003	Black Mass	Samurai Jack, episode "Episode XXXVII: The Birth of Evil, Part 1"	The Black Mass, a primordial cosmic entity, formed in outer space. The entity was slain by Odin, Ra, and Rama, and obliterated, apart from a small fragment that escaped their notice. It collided with primordial Japan. 65 million years later, the demon Aku (Mako) emerged from it.

Links

• Chicxulub impactor on Wikipedia