According to this, Chikulubub was the so-called long priest comet. These are comets that take more than 200 years to orbit the Sun. According to the theory of two American researchers, the comet was thrown out of its orbit by the gravitational field of the planet Jupiter. “The solar system works like a pinball machine,” says Saraj. “Jupiter, the most massive planet, orbits long-term comets that bring them very close to the Sun.”

These “Sungrazers” are exposed to huge tidal forces in the area around the Sun. The attraction forces acting on the comet part near the Sun are much greater than the forces acting on the distant part of the Sun. This can cause a very large comet to break into many smaller fragments, Saraj explains: “The deciding factor is that going back on the Oort Cloud increases the likelihood that one of these fragments will hit the Earth.”

Loeb and Saraj have calculated that such a “tidal disintegration event” increases the likelihood that long-lived prehistoric comets or fragments of their comets will hit Earth by a factor of 10. There is a general possibility that these items will become “sungras”.

Investigations into the Chicxulub Crater, but also the largest confirmed crater in the history of Earth, support the theory of the Vederfort Crater, Loeb and Saraj in South Africa. At both locations it can be proven that the affected hits were the so-called carbonaceous chondrites, which make up only about two to three percent of the impact of all proven meteorites worldwide.

This would refute the popular thesis that the Chikpubal influence originates from the main asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. Chondrites containing carbon are relatively rare.