Asteroid Impact (The Sky Filled With Stars)

(Will work on introduction)

The Impact
The impact occurred on July 18, 1429 (the date is understandably well accounted for in texts from the time) in the northwestern Sahara desert. The most common estimates put its speed at approximately 11 kilometers/second, and was probably about a mile wide. It released 430 exajoules of energy (more energy than the world uses in a year), and fused the desert sand for tens of miles in each direction.

Extrasolar Theory
Professor Laurence Banks has put forward a different theory for the source of the asteroid. He claims that the asteroid was much smaller that supposed, but was also travelling much faster and was thus able to impact the surface before it was destroyed by the atmosphere. He has further claimed that the asteroid, to be going fast enough, would have to have been of extrasolar origin.