Near-Earth supernova
A near-Earth supernova is an explosion resulting from the death of a
.An estimated 20
OB associations being located within 650 pc of the Earth. At present, there are six near-Earth supernova candidates within 300 pc.[3]
Effects on Earth
On average, a
reef communities would be particularly affected, which could severely deplete the base of the marine food chain.[4][5]
Historically, nearby supernovae may have influenced the
Odenwald[8] discusses the possible effects of a Betelgeuse supernova on the Earth and on human space travel, especially the effects of the stream of charged particles that would reach the Earth about 100,000 years later than the initial light and other electromagnetic radiation produced by the explosion.
Risk by supernova type
Candidates within 300 pc[3] Star designation Distance
(pc)Mass
(M☉)IK Pegasi 46 1.65/1.15 Spica 80 10.25/7.0 Alpha Lupi 141 10.1 Antares 169 12.4/10 Betelgeuse 197 7.7–20 Rigel 264 18
Speculation as to the effects of a nearby supernova on Earth often focuses on large stars as Type II supernova candidates. Several prominent stars within a few hundred light years of the Sun are candidates for becoming supernovae in as little as 1,000 years. Although they would be extremely visible, if these "predictable" supernovae were to occur, they are thought to pose little threat to Earth.
It is estimated that a Type II supernova closer than eight
billion years[5] to 10 per billion years.[10] Several studies assume that supernovae are concentrated in the spiral arms of the galaxy, and that supernova explosions near the Sun usually occur during the approximately 10 million years that the Sun takes to pass through one of these regions.[9] Examples of relatively near supernovae are the Vela Supernova Remnant (c. 800 ly, c. 12,000 years ago) and Geminga
(c. 550 ly, c. 300,000 years ago).
Type Ia supernovae are thought to be potentially the most dangerous if they occur close enough to the Earth. Because Type Ia supernovae arise from dim, common white dwarf stars, it is likely that a supernova that could affect the Earth will occur unpredictably and take place in a star system that is not well studied. The closest known candidate is IK Pegasi.[11] It is currently estimated, however, that by the time it could become a threat, its velocity in relation to the Solar System would have carried IK Pegasi to a safe distance.[9]
Past events
Evidence from daughter products of short-lived
radioactive isotopes shows that a nearby supernova helped determine the composition of the Solar System 4.5 billion years ago, and may even have triggered the formation of this system.[12] Supernova production of heavy elements over astronomic periods of time ultimately made the chemistry of life
on Earth possible.
Past supernovae might be detectable on Earth in the form of metal isotope signatures in
rock strata. Subsequently, iron-60 enrichment has been reported in deep-sea rock of the Pacific Ocean by researchers from the Technical University of Munich.[13][14][15] Twenty-three atoms of this iron isotope were found in the top 2 cm of crust (this layer corresponds to times from 13.4 million years ago to the present).[15] It is estimated that the supernova must have occurred in the last 5 million years or else it would have had to happen very close to the solar system to account for so much iron-60 still being here. A supernova occurring so close would have probably caused a mass extinction, which did not happen in that time frame.[16] The quantity of iron seems to indicate that the supernova was less than 30 parsecs away. On the other hand, the authors estimate the frequency of supernovae at a distance less than D (for reasonably small D) as around (D/10 pc)3 per billion years, which gives a probability of only around 5% for a supernova within 30 pc in the last 5 million years. They point out that the probability may be higher because the Solar System is entering the Orion Arm of the Milky Way. In 2019, the group in Munich found interstellar dust in Antarctic surface snow not older than 20 years which they relate to the Local Interstellar Cloud. The detection of interstellar dust in Antarctica was done by the measurement of the radionuclides Fe-60 and Mn-53 by highly sensitive accelerator mass spectrometry, where Fe-60 is again the clear signature for a recent near-Earth supernova origin.[17]
end-Ordovician extinction, which resulted in the death of nearly 60% of the oceanic life on Earth.[18] Multiple supernovae in a cluster of dying hypergiant stars that occurred in rapid succession on an astronomical and geological timescale have also been proposed as a trigger for the multiple pulses of the Late Devonian extinction, in particular the Hangenberg event at the terminus of the Devonian.[19]
In 1998 a
titanium-44 (half-life about 60 years) were independently discovered emanating from it,[21] showing that it must have exploded fairly recently (perhaps around the year 1200), but there is no historical record of it. Its distance is controversial, but some scientists argue from the flux of gamma rays and X-rays that the supernova remnant is only 200 parsecs (650–700 light-years) away.[22] If so, its occurring 800 years ago is a statistically unexpected event because supernovae less than 200 parsecs away are estimated to occur less than once per 100,000 years.[15]
See also
References
- ^
Kaplan, D. L.; Chatterjee, S.; Gaensler, B. M.; Anderson, J. (2008). "A Precise Proper Motion for the Crab Pulsar, and the Difficulty of Testing Spin-Kick Alignment for Young Neutron Stars". S2CID 17840947.
- ^ Joshua Sokol (Jan 14, 2016). "What If History's Brightest Supernova Exploded In Earth's Backyard?". The Atlantic.
- ^ . 29.
- ^
Ellis, J.; Schramm, D. N. (1993). "Could a nearby supernova explosion have caused a mass extinction?". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 92 (1): 235–8. PMID 11607506.
- ^ a b
Whitten, R. C.; Borucki, W. J.; Wolfe, J. H.; Cuzzi, J. (1976). "Effect of nearby supernova explosions on atmospheric ozone". Nature. 263 (5576): 398–400. S2CID 4154916.
- ^ Petersen, Carolyn Collins (March 22, 2023). "Did Supernovae Help Push Life to Become More Diverse?". Universe Today. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
- PMID 36937070. e9898.
- ^ Odenwald, Sten (2017-12-06). "The Betelgeuse Supernova". Huffington Post. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
- ^ a b c
Gehrels, N.; et al. (2003). "Ozone Depletion from Nearby Supernovae". S2CID 15078077.
- ^
Clark, D. H.; McCrea, W. H.; Stephenson, F. R. (1977). "Frequency of nearby supernovae and climatic and biological catastrophes". S2CID 4147869.
- Bibcode:2007S&T...113c..26G.
- ^ Taylor, G. J. (2003-05-21). "Triggering the Formation of the Solar System". Planetary Science Research. Retrieved 2006-10-20.
- ^
Staff (Fall 2005). "Researchers Detect 'Near Miss' Supernova Explosion". University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. p. 17. Archived from the originalon 2006-09-01. Retrieved 2007-02-01.
- ^
Knie, K.; et al. (2004). "60Fe Anomaly in a Deep-Sea Manganese Crust and Implications for a Nearby Supernova Source". PMID 15525065.
- ^ a b c
Fields, B. D.; Ellis, J. (1999). "On Deep-Ocean 60Fe as a Fossil of a Near-Earth Supernova". S2CID 2786806.
- ^ Fields & Ellis, p. 10
- S2CID 201868513.
- ^
Melott, A.; et al. (2004). "Did a gamma-ray burst initiate the late Ordovician mass extinction?". S2CID 13124815.
- PMID 32817482.
- ^
Aschenbach, B. (1998). "Discovery of a young nearby supernova remnant". S2CID 4426317.
- ^
Iyudin, A. F.; et al. (1998). "Emission from 44Ti associated with a previously unknown Galactic supernova". Nature. 396 (6707): 142–144. S2CID 4430526.
- S2CID 4426317.
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