Discovery of a type of space object capable of tearing the Earth apart

A super member of the monster family that caused several mass extinctions on ancient Earth could create a full-blown apocalypse on Earth-like planets.

According to the sheet Spacea group of scientists has just discovered This terrifying type of supernova is powerful enough to destroy a planet’s atmosphere.which means that this “shell” layer, essential to life, cannot recover after many years of incident.

A supernova is the brilliant death of a star. This beautiful event generally occurs in two ways: a large star suddenly sees its core collapse when its energy is exhausted, then explodes; or a star evolves towards death by sequentially following in the footsteps of a red giant – a white dwarf, then suddenly reactivates the nuclear reaction inside, causing it to explode.

A planet similar to Earth is “bathed” by the light, the radiation… of a supernova

Graphic image representing a planet similar to Earth “bathed” in the light, radiation… of a supernova – (Photo: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY).

No matter how it happens, The supernova also releases a sea of ​​deadly radiation enough to devastate any planets unfortunate enough to be nearby. Many previous studies have shown that Earth was repeatedly “flooded” by radiation from supernovae, leading to mass extinctions.

An example of a supernova that humanity might be lucky enough to see is Star of Betegleuseone of the brightest stars in the sky and expected to explode at any time as it has entered the phase “dying”.

The time Betegleuse can explode could be in the generation you live in, or it could be several million years from now. At a distance of 600 light years, it would be too far to devastate Earth but enough to bathe the planet for a few days in light stronger than that of the full moon.

But Betegleuse won’t create what the team of scientists from the Department of Astronomy and the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will; The Department of Astrophysics at the University of Kansas and the Department of Astrophysics at Washburn University (USA) determined this.

In research just published online at arXiv, the authors show that some stars at the end of their lives can be surrounded by Disc for thick materials. After the initial supernova explosion, a shock wave formed and hit the disk, heating it to extremely high temperatures.

This is the record that will be released X-rays of death, transmitted over extremely long distances. Unlucky planets within a 150 light-year radius of the “monster” can lose up to 50% of their ozone layer. If we get closer, the consequence could be that the atmosphere is torn apart and could recover after many years.

Months or years after the event, this “peeled” planet will be bombarded with X-rays. Hundreds or thousands of years later, cosmic rays continue to strike, leaving no chance for the biosphere to recover.

Fortunately, near Earth, there are currently no threatening candidates for an X-ray supernova. However, in the habitable regions of the galaxy, many other Earth-like planets could be threatened because many stars have the potential to become this type of deadly supernova.

Article source: NLD