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A globose extinction event around 359 million years ago may have been triggered by the death attack of a distant star , a new study suggest .
Toward the end of theDevonian period(416 million to 358 million years ago ) , there was amass extinctionknown as the Hangenberg Event ; it pass over out armored Pisces the Fishes call placoderms and killed off some 70 % of Earth ’s invertebrate species . But scientists have long puzzle over what have the die - off .
An ancient supernova explosion may have disrupted Earth’s ozone layer and caused the extinction of entire ecosystems.
late , keep plant spores offered clues about this ancient extinction . Fossil spore spanning thousands of years at the bound of the Devonian and the carbonaceous periods showed signs of legal injury byultraviolet(UV ) igniter . This find suggested that a cataclysmic event had caused a long - lasting disruption of Earth ’s ozone layer , which screen the planet from harmful ultraviolet rays . scientist proposed that a potential prospect for this blast of ultraviolet light brightness level could be one or more supernovas that exploded within 65 light - years from Earth , grant to a new study .
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Climate modification and extremevolcanic activitycan also damage the ozone layer , but evidence in the geologic record at the final stage of the Devonian could n’t clearly colligate the ozone depletion to a world disaster that initiate on Earth , the study generator reported .
When stars perish , they release blasts of UV igniter , X - raysand da Gamma rays . If a supernova is close enough to Earth , these beam can tear up the ozone layer , endanger Earth to unfiltered ultraviolet light light from the sun and harming life on the planet ’s surface . However , this legal injury is typically short - lived . Its effects fade after a year or so , " and after a 10 , Earth restores its ozone , " said lead cogitation author Brian Fields , a prof in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign .
But that initial onslaught is just the first stage of the hurt a neighboring supernova can inflict , Fields told Live Science in an electronic mail .
" Later , the supernova blast slam into thesolar system . The eruption acts as a speck catalyst , and the Earth is bathed with an acute rainwater of high - energy particle , " which are sleep with as muons , Fields order . Not only does this fire slip away Earth ’s ozone layer — again — muon then irradiate Earth ’s control surface and penetrate late underground and into the ocean .
" These will damage life story , and the cosmic ray will linger for many thousand of old age , up to 100,000 age , " Fields said . If a supernova — or more than one — shredded Earth ’s ozone layer , that could explain the UV damage found in Late Devonian spore and pollen over millennium , the research worker describe .
Light years away
How close does a star have to be for its end to affect Earth ?
" run by my co - writer and others has shown that a supernova about 25 lite - years away would conduce to biologic cataclysm — a true mass extinction , " Fields said . " For context , the nearest wizard today is 4 light - years away , " he added . As the Hangenberg extinction was less severe than other mass extinctions in Earth ’s history , the field author judge that the Devonian supernova would have exploded about 65 light - age away ( though , there is not yet a potential nominee for a maven in this reach that cash in one’s chips 359 million years ago ) .
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The good newsworthiness is that you do n’t need to worry about a supernova upend life sentence as we get it on it — at least , not anytime soon .
" I am proud of to report that no threatening supernova candidate are anywhere near the ' minimal dependable distance , ' " at which Earth could be harm by a supernova , Fields told Live Science .
In recent months , scientist ' attention has concentrate on unusual dimming in there d giant Betelgeuse , which is in its final life stage and is expected to explode in a spectacular supernova comparatively before long ( in astronomical terms ) — within about 100,000 twelvemonth .
Betelgeuse is about 1,000 times the sizing of our sun , so that explosion should be quite spectacular . But at more than 642 clean - years from Earth , " it is far enough that the fireworks will be harmless to us , " field of battle say .
The findings were published online Aug. 18 in the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
Originally published on Live Science .
