Asteroid Hit Sea Like a ‘Cosmic Bomb’ 2 Million Years Ago, Researchers Say

An asteroid that tumbled through space for eons blasted into the sea off Antarctica more than 2 million years ago with the force of “a cosmic bomb,” researchers report today in Nature. Striking the Bellingshausen Sea with the explosive power of 100 billion tons of TNT, the asteroid Eltanin blew a column of water 3 miles high and punched a temporary “oceanic crater” in the sea, a multinational team reports.

The researchers estimate that the asteroid was at least six-tenths of a mile and possibly up to 2 1/2 miles in diameter. The blast in the ocean did not leave a crater on the seabed, but a similar strike on land would have left a hole 9 to 25 miles across. Eltanin triggered waves 65 to 130 feet high, “devastating mega-tsunamis” that swamped the coasts of South America and Antarctica, the scientists say.