A study by scientists in New York has revealed that a giant comet that crashed into the Earth nearly 56 million years ago could have triggered the instantaneous warming of the planet.

Scientists from Renselaer Polytechnic Instituted found evidence of a comet or asteroid that smashed into the Earth's surface 56 million years ago. Based on their findings, the crash might have triggered the warming referred to as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).

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The discovery came as a surprise as scientists were studying a single-celled organism called the "Foraminefera." Scientists believe that these fossilized creatures can provide hints of how the earth was in the past. It is through these creatures that they discovered that the PETM could have changed the entire environment of the Earth.

Scientists have found that the event could have caused gigatons of carbon dioxide to accumulate in the earth's atmosphere, causing the temperature to rise to about eight degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit). 

Scientists formed a link between the comet and PETM by uncovering clues in the form of small glass spheres called the "spherules." According to the details published in the journal "Science," spherules are said to be rock debris from when the comet hit the earth's surface.

A physicist from Sandia National Laboratory Mark Boslough told The Verge that the discovery "provides a big clue in the chain of discovery that we need to solve that mystery."