Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Origins: Scientists Believe They Now Know Where It Came From

Asteroids, volcanic eruptions and poisonous plant species: the extinction of the dinosaurs has been a hotly debated topic for decades. But researchers have found hard evidence of an asteroid impact that had a massive effect on the Earth's climate along with asteroid-specific minerals like iridium at the crater in Chicxulub, Mexico, all but proving the asteroid theory.

And now scientists have figured out where the asteroid likely came from, and it wasn't from anywhere nearby. Research headed by Mario Fischer-Gödde at the University of Cologne in Germany says the asteroid came from beyond Jupiter, well into the outer portion of our solar system. 

The research paper, published Thursday in the journal Science, identified it as a C-type asteroid. Known as a carbonaceous meteor, these most commonly come from the ...