NASA scientist shows dinosaurs wandered on Earth when it was on other side of Milky Way

Jessie Christiansen, a NASA scientist, has displayed through an animation just how long the reign of dinosaurs actually lasted on this planet by tracing the movement of our solar system through the Milky Way. The scientist also stated that the planet used to be on a different side of the galaxy when the dinosaurs ruled the planet Earth.

The Sun orbits the centre of the galaxy, completing a rotation in every 250 million years. So her animation actually shows that the last time the Solar System was at its present point in the universe, the Triassic Period, known as the first period of the Mesozoic Era. It was this during this time that the dinosaurs first started to emerge. A number of iconic dinosaurs were seen wandering Earth as the planet was in a completely different part of the Milky Way.

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Jessie Illustrates the History

Jessie decided to illustrate it when she was attending a stargazing party at the California Technology Institute in Pasadena. Christiansen left the attendees completely after claiming that our solar system was across the galaxy during the era of dinosaurs. She stated that it was the first time when she realised that the time scales - fossil record time scales, archaeological and astronomical time scales - tied together. Jessie added that she later came up with an idea of mapping out the evolution of dinosaur through the rotation of the galaxy. The resulting video was created in four hours in PowerPoint with timed animations putting both the timelines in perspective:

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The scientist also noted a few small corrections to the text in her video stating that the plesiosaurs are not dinosaurs and that we actually complete a galactic orbit every 250 million years, not 200 million years.

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Space news: A spiral over space

The Galactic movements are much more complicated than what can be seen in the video. The other stars and the planetary systems are moving, at variable speeds and different orbits. The inner parts spin at a faster rate as opposed to the outer regions.

Additionally, the Galaxy itself is moving over space while slowly approaching the adjacent Andromeda galaxy. Jessie has stated that the animations make it seem like we have reached the same spot; however, the entire galaxy has moved a very long way. She added that it is more like we are doing a spiral through space.

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Image credits: Unsplash | @faustogarmen