article_snippet: Two craters in Canada thought a binary asteroid impacted a marine environment during the Ordovician period, 490 million years ago.
article_snippet: a binary asteroid was created in the Permian period 285 million years ago and impacted the landmass Pangaea .
article_snippet: And the huge difference in time between the two events is even more amazing as, at the time a binary asteroid was made, the location of the second was underwater.
article_snippet: The research was published in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta and reported by Astrobiology Magazine.
article_snippet: In the original theory, a binary asteroid - two asteroids orbiting a common centre of mass - struck the ground simultaneously 285 million years ago.
article_snippet: In the original theory, a binary asteroid - two asteroids orbiting a common centre of mass - struck the ground simultaneously 285 million years ago, but that is now believed to be inaccurate .
article_snippet: This part of Canada - referred to as Laurentia - had less land 460 million years ago than Laurentia - did 285 million years ago, when waters receded, forming the landmass called Pangaea.
highlights_snippet: It is thought to have been created separately 460 million years ago .
  