Ancient sea mud records supernova blast a.. 04 November 2007 b.. NewScientist.com news service
Tools Related Articles a.. The trouble with supernovae b.. 25 October 2007 c.. Looking for the echoes of a supernova d.. 5 May 2007 e.. Earth escapes gamma-ray-burst disaster f.. 19 April 2006 g.. Search New Scientist h.. Contact us It is the oldest telescope in the world - and it lies at the bottom of the ocean. Ancient sea floor sediments have revealed that a supernova exploded during the Pliocene era and may have caused a minor extinction event on Earth. Levels of radioactive iron-60 suggest the supernova was between 60 and 300 light years away, says Brian Fields of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "It didn't hit us or we wouldn't be here." Radiation from the blast could have weakened Earth's atmosphere, he says, exposing organisms to the sun's ultraviolet radiation. This coincides with an extinction peak, but Fields says there is no direct evidence of a link. The work was reported at a meeting of the Geological Society of America in Denver, Colorado, this week. http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19626285.000-ancient-sea-mud-records-supernova-blast.html?feedId=online-news_rss20 mediacare http://www.mediacare.biz [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
