Did a massive comet almost wipe out humans in 1883?

New research suggests that a giant celestial missile, much like the one that killed off dinosaurs, nearly did the same to humans a century ago

Mexican astronomer Jose Bonilla snapped this one-of-a-kind photograph on Aug. 12, 1883. Scientists now believe it was a comet fragment that came dangerously close to hitting the Earth.
(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)

For two days in August 1883, Mexican astronomer Jose Bonilla was the lone witness to 450 heavenly objects passing across the face of the sun, each one surrounded by a glowing mist. When Bonilla later published his findings in the French journal L'Astronomie, his editor dismissed the phenomenon as flecks of dust or bugs obscuring Bonilla's telescope. But now, a new study by researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico offers a different, sobering take: The objects Bonilla saw were actually fragments of a massive comet that narrowly missed Earth. Here's what you should know:

How big were these heavenly bodies?

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