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Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.<br/>
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Recent comments: {{Special:RecentChanges|namespace=1}}

Latest revision as of 09:33, 16 March 2026

Welcome to the explain xkcd wiki!
We have an explanation for all 3274 xkcd comics, and only 39 (1.2%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!

 Go to this explanation

Latest comic[edit]

Asteroid Threat
Paleontologists have long worried that the dinosaurs blasted into space 66 million years ago will one day complete their orbits and fall back down.
Title text: Paleontologists have long worried that the dinosaurs blasted into space 66 million years ago will one day complete their orbits and fall back down.

Explanation[edit]

Ambox warning blue construction.png This is incomplete:
This page was created by a reentering dinosaur. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

It's generally agreed by scientists that most dinosaurs went extinct primarily as a result, either directly or indirectly, of the Chicxulub asteroid impacting the Earth near the Yucatán Peninsula 66 million years ago. This comic posits that another asteroid is soon going to hit the Earth again. Because the impact location will be on the exact opposite side of the planet (the antipode), the comic takes the absurd notion that it will act the 'opposite' way, reversing all the original effects and bringing dinosaurs back from extinction.

The general consensus is that most dinosaurs that weren't in the immediate vicinity of the impact itself went extinct as a result of the environmental effect it had. Other factors have been proposed to explain the extinction, and the relative contributory effect of these has been a matter of some debate. The title text suggests that the initial Chicxulub event actually resulted in the dinosaurs' disappearance because it involved the dinosaurs launching, or being launched, alive into space. Either the shock of the asteroid strike somehow threw them loose from the planet, or the geology has been misinterpreted and is actually the result of the dinosaurs intentionally engineering a massive rocket blast. They have since been on a long path, most likely circling the Sun, that will some day intersect with the Earth again, and they will land still alive and take control again.

This is ridiculous, for a number of reasons. Firstly, they would they have to somehow survive, and potentially arrange, the initial event. There is no evidence that the dinosaurs developed rocketry techniques,[citation needed] while an impact strong enough to have knocked them into space would have subjected them to violent forces that they were not adapted to withstand. Secondly, they would need to sustain a breeding population in the vacuum of space through to the present day. Again, dinosaurs do not seem to have had the technology for space travel,[citation needed] and such a long journey would require extra complications in that they would need to also breed and grow food for the duration, requiring them to maintain an entire ecosystem. Lastly they would need to survive their presumably meteoric re-entry through the Earth's atmosphere and the impact with its surface - a thoroughly impossible feat.

Because Earth rocks have been found on the Moon, there has been some speculation that fossils from the era of dinosaurs or earlier may have landed on the moon, but these are much more likely to be tiny organisms such as diatoms, rather than identifiable fragments of dinosaur remains. No such fragments have been collected.

This could also be seen as a joke referencing the second law of thermodynamics, that entropy can only rise (i.e. you cannot undo destruction by doing the original action in reverse).

Transcript[edit]

Ambox warning green construction.png This is one of 30 incomplete transcripts:
Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!
[Two images of Earth are shown. At the top left is a small one, centered on southern West Africa, showing the Atlantic Ocean and the east coast of South America, with a dotted line through the Earth entering at the Yucatán Peninsula and exiting at the east-central Indian Ocean. Taking up most of the rest of the panel is a large Earth image centered on the Indian Ocean and containing a target symbol, comprising a circle and four spokes, aimed at a location in the east-central Indian Ocean.]
[Caption below image:]
Dire news: An asteroid is on course to hit the earth exactly opposite the Yucatán Peninsula, bringing back the dinosaurs.

comment.png  Add comment      new topic.png  Create topic (use sparingly)     refresh discuss.png  Refresh 

Discussion

Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.


This is a test. PoolloverNathan[stalk the blue seas] 20:48, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

This is not. —While False (museum | talk | contributions | logs | rights | printable version | page information | what links there | related changes | Google search | current time: 17:59) 18:38, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
A foreign student asked me to help fight against his math teacher. That was unusual. He was in that class for just a couple of weeks. The teacher's phone number was sent to me. The student asked me to spam-call the teacher. 172.71.155.55 22:58, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

here i'm just messing around in html, ignore this

furhhfghure guyrburgryhuyvfr "rvhru"

interesting way of writing quotations xd

hmmm this one of putting "<p>" in a line break will come in handy for when i want it to start at the same place than the first line

Please beware that <p> on mediawiki also disables automatic paragraph breaks, so you need a closing </p> or you'll break automatic paragraph formatting for the rest of the page. Zmatt (talk) 22:06, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

edit: da hek did that "</div>" come from An user who has no account yet (talk) 14:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

hi uh its hard to get here. is this a reference to undocumented feature??? hmm... this is interesting.
108.162.241.216 02:05, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


45px Soup


yum yum [citation needed]

Hiuiedeixgeyceiyedhcdiedcve {{trout}}

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<a href=" [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab] "Cancel the meeting! Our cover is blown."> More testing: hello ​ does​this​work (yes​it​does) This isn't a good name (talk) 22:44, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

‮hi 164.58.172.158 14:21, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

What is this?????????????????????? King Pando (talk) 04:25, 10 March 2026 (UTC)‭

Hello 107.1.219.44 19:29, 29 April 2026 (UTC)
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New here?[edit]

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Lots of people contribute to make this wiki a success. Many of the recent contributors above have just joined. You can do it too! Create your account here.

You can read a brief introduction about this wiki at explain xkcd. Feel free to create an account and contribute to the wiki! We need explanations for xkcd comics, characters, What If? articles, and everything in between. If it is referenced in an xkcd comic, it should be here.

  • The incomplete explanations are listed here. Feel free to help out by expanding them!

Rules[edit]

Be a jerk!

There are a lot of comics that have set-in-stone explanations; only put one interpretation in the wiki page for each comic.

If you want to talk about a specific comic, don’t.

Please only submit material directly unrelated to xkcd and, of course, only submit material that cannot legally be posted or freely edited. On-topic or other appropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users who repeatedly post such content will be blocked. Get good.

If you need assistance from an admin, post a message to the Admin requests board.

Recent comments:

30 June 2026

     15:00 

Talk:3265: Asteroid Threat‎‎ (13 changes | history) . . (+2,682). . [RG‎; 82.13.184.33‎; 81.179.200.152‎; 47.141.37.161‎; 37.19.210.20‎; 2605:59c8:160:db08:ec43:ffc6:18f5:1d73‎; 158.173.67.61‎; 94.249.207.231‎ (2×); 77.159.181.114‎ (2×); 158.173.67.90‎ (2×)]

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+540). . 2605:59c8:160:db08:ec43:ffc6:18f5:1d73 (talk)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (0). . 77.159.181.114 (talk) (typo)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+245). . 77.159.181.114 (talk) (discussion on the datation of Chicxulub)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+2). . 94.249.207.231 (talk) (ffs)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+158). . 94.249.207.231 (talk) (dire?)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (-379). . 47.141.37.161 (talk) (All of you. Die.)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+171). . 37.19.210.20 (talk)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+269). . 158.173.67.61 (talk) (Chicxulub / Tunguska)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+99). . RG (talk | contribs)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+59). . 158.173.67.90 (talk) (Tunguska)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+297). . 158.173.67.90 (talk) (Chicxulub & Tunguska)

     08:11  Talk:2039: Begging the Question‎ (diff | hist) . . (+211). . 2001:4c4e:1c09:b700:1159:d9ce:f2bf:8b8 (talk)

29 June 2026

N    22:34 

Talk:3265: Asteroid Threat‎‎ (12 changes | history) . . (+1,296). . [TheusafBOT‎; 81.179.200.152‎; 2601:249:1b81:c2f0:c8e8:206f:552c:39f5‎; 129.222.195.118‎; Itub‎ (2×); AmethystSky14‎ (2×); RadiantRainwing‎ (4×)]

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+647). . 81.179.200.152 (talk) (General fixes. Retaining/restoring all apparently intended comments, just resigging/reformatting etc.)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+113). . TheusafBOT (talk | contribs) (Created by theusafBOT: talk page for 3265)

     19:34  Talk:738: Incision‎ (diff | hist) . . (+207). . User 8496351 (talk | contribs)
     19:25  Talk:492: Scrabble‎ (diff | hist) . . (+146). . User 8496351 (talk | contribs)

     15:50 

Talk:3264: 720 Ollie‎‎ (7 changes | history) . . (+1,418). . [135.84.57.36‎; 70.110.149.136‎; 82.13.184.33‎ (5×)]

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+513). . 70.110.149.136 (talk) (Video evidence)

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Talk:1433: Lightsaber‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (0). . [Aprilfoolsupdate!‎; 82.132.236.191‎]

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+8). . 82.132.236.191 (talk) (Undo revision 415343 by Aprilfoolsupdate! (talk))

     

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Talk:102: Back to the Future‎‎ (3 changes | history) . . (0). . [82.132.236.191‎; Aprilfoolsupdate!‎ (2×)]

     

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(cur | prev) . . (-59). . 82.132.236.191 (talk) (Rude to alter others' Talk comments like that. If you wanted to respond with 'new info', you could just fully add your own words of wisdom to the conversation.)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+27). . Aprilfoolsupdate! (talk | contribs)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+32). . Aprilfoolsupdate! (talk | contribs)

     03:18  Talk:3235: Types of Board Game‎ (diff | hist) . . (+131). . RG (talk | contribs)

28 June 2026

     18:00 

Talk:3264: 720 Ollie‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+2,305). . [Brutalcaboodle‎; 81.179.200.152‎]

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+1,862). . 81.179.200.152 (talk)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+443). . Brutalcaboodle (talk | contribs) (Missing the joke)

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Talk:3260: Messi‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+143). . [82.132.237.125‎; 185.44.249.242‎]

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+92). . 185.44.249.242 (talk) (3, 2, 1 goals in this World Cup. Not a good trend…)

27 June 2026

     16:22  Talk:Blue Eyes‎ (diff | hist) . . (+8,898). . 82.132.237.125 (talk)

     13:15 

Talk:3264: 720 Ollie‎‎ (4 changes | history) . . (+1,249). . [49.194.177.67‎; 80.229.249.36‎; 82.132.238.177‎ (2×)]

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+295). . 49.194.177.67 (talk) (re: goofy)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (+954). . 80.229.249.36 (talk) (a macroscopic spin 1/2 system)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (0). . 82.132.238.177 (talk) (Stupid on-screen-keyboard. No usable tactility to it.)

     

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(cur | prev) . . (0). . 82.132.238.177 (talk) (Obvious typos)