Could a Rotating Supernova Cause Another O-S Extinction?

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In summary: Gamma ray burst is the most powerful form of radiation in the universe.In summary, scientists think that a gamma ray burst could be aimed at the Earth, causing most of the human race to die. If this happened 26 light years away, we would all be dead.
  • #1
TimeHorse
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Folks,

I'm struggling to write a monograph that details the potential of a rotating supernova directing a gamma ray burst directly at the solar system such that it would strip the Earth of most of its OZone and rain high-energy gamma radiation upon all terrestrial life, similar to as suggested by some for the Ordovician-Silurian Extinction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordovician–Silurian_extinction_event#Gamma_ray_burst_hypothesis

So my question is how close would a Type 1A supernova have to be if it was aimed directly at us to cause the near extinction of the human race and most mammalian life?
 
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  • #3
Dr. Barb Mattson is a good friend of mine (You should see her awesome Daisy the Model A page on Facebook) but generally is too busy to help me with these kind of things. I know she's a world-class X-Ray Astronomer though! My thought though is how dangerous could a "dark menace" be. I know a 26-lightyear radius around the Solar System is a very spartan field (about 100 known stars). All that being within Parallax range, even a faint Type 1A would be hard to miss. My reason for asking isn't to assure but to provide a worse-case scenario for a paper I'm contributing to encouraging the development on interstellar travel in the next century. It's a tenuous argument to be sure but more likely than a black hole coming out of nowhere even though we'd barely see that coming and even that that's be aiming for the sun, not for us which is still pretty bad. Hmm. You've given me a lot to think about.
 
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  • #4
soulmartyr said:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/0108supernova.html
scientists at NASA say 26 lightyears away to cause significant damage to our ozone.
The closest star from Earth to exceed the Chandrasekhar limit is Spica 260 light years away.


I don't know where you're getting your information from but, you're somewhat wrong because if a gamma ray burst occurred 100 light years away from the Earth you can kiss yourself and everybody you know goodbye because we would all be dead.
 
  • #5
I retract my last statement, y'all were talking about a supernova blast and I thought you meant a gamma ray burst which I might add is way more deadly and at the same time interesting.
 
  • #6
I was curious about gamma ray burst in general, and supernova is one possibility, hypernova too but the closest hypernova candidate is IIRC 3 thousand light years from Earth and no-one believes this will cause a problem either. I would again like to consider the worst case scenario though and also I choose gamma ray burst as defuse enough to make the entire solar system uninhabitable as we know it. So no escaping to Mars or Titan, per se. It's to argue that not just interplanetary but interstellar travel is a human imperative because there are some thing bigger and more dangerous than even a Chicxulub. At least, that's the theory. A simple answer would be a rotating black hole that just happens to be knocked in our direction but it would have to be feeding and again we'd see that so I don't think that can sneak up on us any more than a supernova could, even a type 1A Supernova. I'm at a loss to figure out what could "sneak up and zap up" such that it could have been sneaking up on us for millions of years unspotted until zap.
 
  • #7
I hope we can use space.com, I think I found what ur looking for on it.
http://www.space.com/5081-real-death-star-strike-earth.html
Talks about a pair of stars one named Wolf-Rayet in the constellation Sagittarius.
Wolf-Rayet is theorized to be in the last known stable phase before supernova and has a chance of producing a gamma ray.
This pin-wheel of two stars is about 8,000 light years away.

This backs it up,
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gekko/pinwheel/tech_faq.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140603.html
 

1. What is the Another O-S Extinction?

The Another O-S Extinction, also known as the "Other Species Extinction," refers to an event in Earth's history that resulted in the extinction of a significant number of species. It is considered to be one of the five major mass extinctions in the planet's history.

2. When did the Another O-S Extinction occur?

The Another O-S Extinction occurred approximately 375 million years ago during the Late Devonian period. It lasted for about 20 million years, with the peak extinction event happening around 372 million years ago.

3. What caused the Another O-S Extinction?

The exact cause of the Another O-S Extinction is still debated among scientists. However, it is believed to be a combination of factors such as climate change, sea level fluctuations, and ocean anoxia (lack of oxygen). Some scientists also suggest that a supernova or asteroid impact may have contributed to the extinction event.

4. How did the Another O-S Extinction impact the Earth's biodiversity?

The Another O-S Extinction resulted in a significant loss of marine and terrestrial species. It is estimated that about 75% of all species went extinct, including many species of fish, trilobites, and corals. This extinction event also affected the diversity of plants, as many species of land plants disappeared as well.

5. Could the Another O-S Extinction happen again?

While it is impossible to predict the future, it is unlikely that the Another O-S Extinction will occur again in the same way. Earth's current environmental conditions are different from those during the Late Devonian period. However, human activities such as climate change and habitat destruction could potentially lead to another mass extinction event in the future.

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