Asteroid impact would drastically change the world in ways we didn't even expect, scientists say World could be plunged into cold and dark that would radically alter how we find food – but there is reason for hope, simulation suggests.
Researchers in the new study simulated what would happen to the climate if such a collision happened, and how the potentially 400 million tons of dust that would be released would change the world.
A new simulation looked at what would happen if the Earth collided with an asteroid with a diameter of around 500 metres, roughly the same as Bennu, a real rock that has been studied in great detail.
In the three or four years after the impact, in the most intense scenario, the sun would be dimmed and cool the surface by up to four degrees, reducing rainfall by 15 per cent and deplete the ozone by around 32 per cent.
That would provide more food for algae which would bloom and then attract large amounts of the small predators that feed on that algae.
