There have been at least 2 supernova explosions around the earth, which have caused biological extinction. What should humans do?

According to the research, scientists have found that in the past 10 million years, there have been at least two supernova explosions around the earth, and in the process of supernova explosions, the released energy reaches the earth and precipitates in the earth's strata, allowing scientists to have Opportunity to discover the occurrence of disaster through geological survey.

At least 2 supernova explosions occurred around the earth

In the Pacific Ocean 1,500 meters below the ground, scientists collected some deep-sea crustal samples and found that there are still radioactive isotopes in the deep-sea crustal samples.

Generally speaking, if these isotopes were deposited from the early days of the solar system, that is, when the earth was just born, then they have already passed the decay period and will no longer be radioactive, which means that these radioactive isotopes , the formation time is not that long.

Judging from the decay period, these isotopes all came from within 10 million years, and the researchers believe that they should have arrived on Earth through supernova explosions.

From a time point of view, in the past 10 million years, there may have been at least 2-4 supernova explosions at a distance of about 300 light-years from the earth, otherwise, there would not be these still radioactive isotopes.

Therefore, in these radioactive isotopes, scientists have also discovered the existence of iron 60, and its decay period is generally within 2.6 million years, which also means that supernova explosions also occurred around the earth more than 2 million years ago. , in terms of distance, it is about 160 light-years to 330 light-years.

The researchers believe that although these supernova explosions are not too far from the earth in terms of distance, the scale of the explosion should not be large, otherwise, once it is a super violent explosion, then life on earth will also be Then fell into a terrible mass extinction, like the Devonian mass extinction.

The Devonian mass extinction caused by a supernova explosion 360 million years ago?

Through fossil research, scientists found that at the end of the Devonian period about 360 million years ago, a sudden large-scale decline in biodiversity on the earth directly led to the disappearance of 75% of species.

At first, scientists thought that the Devonian mass extinction should be related to an asteroid hitting the earth, or a large-scale volcanic eruption, which directly caused the sea to boil and killed a large number of species.

However, with the in-depth research, scientists found that many plant spores were directly killed by ultra-violet ultraviolet rays, which means that at that time, the earth may have been in a vacuum environment. At that time, the earth's "umbrella" ozone layer, Broken for some reason.

So, what could be the cause? Finally, through a large amount of data analysis, scientists determined that the cause of the Devonian mass extinction was related to the supernova explosion around the earth.

The researchers believe that at that time, the supernova that directly caused the mass extinction of species on the earth may be only about 65 light-years away from the earth when it erupted, and a large amount of high-energy radiation reached the earth, thus destroying the earth's The protective layer.

The researchers said that the supernova explosion at that time directly caused the earth's ozone layer to be in a state of damage for about 100,000 years. This disaster also directly caused the surviving creatures on the earth to survive. Evolving in a new direction, which also laid the foundation for the vigorous development of reptiles in the Triassic period.

In addition, in terms of time, scientists have also found that a small-scale mass extinction time has also been found in the late Pliocene about 2.6 million years ago, and through research, it may also be related to supernova explosions. This time , Scientists have found direct evidence for the extinction of species in the late Pliocene through the study of iron 60 in the deep-sea crust.

Speaking of which, the so-called supernova explosion is actually a "big transformation" experienced by massive stars at the end of their lives. After all, after a supernova explosion, it will become a black hole or a neutron star.

As one of the largest inhabitants in the universe, this also means that supernova explosions are very common in the universe, and around the earth, supernova explosions may also occur in the future. However, supernova explosions that can directly cause mass extinction , relatively speaking, it takes hundreds of millions of years to appear once, which is relatively rare.

The researchers said that in the Milky Way, three supernova explosions occur every 100 years or so. In ancient human records, many supernova explosions have also been recorded. One of the more famous records is the Northern Song Dynasty. During a supernova explosion, Earth's sky was lit up for months.

Fortunately, although supernova explosions are common, they are very far away from Earth, and even if they do, they won't harm us.