And now scientists have figured out where this dinosaur-killing rock likely came from. According to research headed by Mario Fischer-Gödde at the University of Cologne in Germany, the asteroid came from beyond Jupiter, well into the outer portion of our solar system.

A blast of X-rays from a nuclear explosion should be enough to save Earth from an incoming asteroid, according to the results of a first-of-its-kind experiment.

“For a one-nanometer fall, we can ignore Earth’s gravity for 20 millionths of a second as Z produces a burst of X-rays that sweeps over the mock-asteroid surface 12.5 millimeters across, about the width of a finger,” said Moore.

Scientists have found nuclear weapons could actually help deflect an incoming cosmic impact — not by blowing an asteroid up, but by showering it with X-ray radiation.

Exploding a nuclear bomb above a huge asteroid could vaporize its surface using X-rays, pushing the space rock away from Earth.

Scientists and the space community have long wondered how they can defend our precious planet from such a disaster. Now, researchers at US-based Sandia National Laboratories have taken a significant step toward protecting the Earth from large space rocks.

Scientists in New Mexico conducted several experiments and learned that asteroids can be deflected from Earth using explosions of nuclear warheads above the space rock's surface.

Could nuclear explosions help protect Earth from destructive asteroids? That is what physicist Nathan Moore and a team of scientists are researching at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque.

The groundbreaking study demonstrates for the first time how a nuclear blast could alter the course of a threatening asteroid.