The latest research in Astronomy and Physics has found further evidence of the relationship between a supernova explosion and the catastrophic event on Earth, millions of years ago. The latest evidence supported the previous research that discovered a supernova explosion triggered the mass extinction on Earth.
Professor of the astronomy and physics at the University of Kansas, Adrian Melott has found further evidence to support the previous research in 2016 that a supernova explosion triggered the mass extinction on Earth. The 2016 research is led by Professor Brian Thomas of the Washburn University in Kansas.
In the previous research, professor Thomas and the international team of scientists concluded that supernova explosion triggered the mass extinction on Earth 2.6 million years ago. The climate changes that caused mass extinction occurred during the end of the Pliocene period and the beginning of the Pleistocene.
Professor Melott was part of the research team back in 2016. They study how the supernova explosion triggered the mass extinction on Earth by creating a computer simulation of a supernova affected the Earth. They found that the surge radiation from the explosion hits the earth and affecting the organism. Thus provide the evidence that a supernova explosion triggered the mass extinction on Earth during that time.
This time, Professor Melott initiated a follow-up research on the supernova explosion with his colleagues at the University of Kansas. He found further evidence of supernova explosion triggered the mass extinction on the Earth 2.6 million years ago. Professor Melott has published his research in the Astrophysical Journal.
“The timing estimates are still not exact," Professor Melott said regarding his latest research on the supernova explosion triggered the mass extinction on Earth. "But now, our distance estimate is more like 150 light years.”
It is possible that a supernova explosion triggered the mass extinction on Earth millions of years ago. There have been many pieces of evidence that cosmic rays from the remnants of supernova affected the Earth living organism. One of the observations from the NASA Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope shows that, as can be seen below:
