Scientists think they’ve found the origin of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. It could help prevent a future mass extinction on Earth.

However, the devastation from the Chicxulub impactor shows that a C-type can be disastrous for Earth. It was a combination of factors, from its size to where it hit, that led to its widespread destruction.

“It’s a big kind of cosmic coincidence, and we all should be thankful for this because otherwise maybe the planet would look very different nowadays,” Fischer-Gödde said.

The researchers published their findings in the journal Science.