asteroid

It also indicates that several kinds of tyrannosaurs may have lived side by side during the final million years before the asteroid impact that ended the age of dinosaurs.

NEOs include asteroids, comets, and fragments whose orbits bring them close to Earth's path around the sun.

But the use of low-earth orbit satellites for mobile communications has been criticised by astronomers, who say they pollute the night sky and make it more difficult to spot potential hazards such as asteroids.

"If we're saying that what is happening right now is like an asteroid hitting Earth, then the problem becomes insurmountable," she said.

Early results suggested the crater was formed by an asteroid several hundred meters wide about 66 million years ago, but proof remained uncertain.