About 66 million years ago, an asteroid slammed into Earth and the planet suddenly went dark.
The impact and its aftermath were catastrophic. Tsunamis inundated coastlines, earthquakes rattled the ground, acid rain poured from the skies and wildfires scorched the terrain. Roughly 75 percent of species, including all nonavian dinosaurs, went extinct.
That day is the center of “Impact: The End of the Age of the Dinosaurs,” a new exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. “There’s no doubt — well, arguably at least — that it was the worst day of the last half billion years,” says Roger Benson, the museum’s curator