Get the latest tech news

Possible exposure of Earth to dense interstellar medium 2-3M years ago

Modelling suggests that the Solar System may have passed through a cold dense cloud 2–3 Myr ago, in agreement with geological evidence from 60Fe and 244Pu isotopes, putting Earth in direct contact with the dense interstellar medium with potentially substantial impacts on its climate.

Previous works have explored the effect of the different environments experienced by the heliosphere as the Sun travels through the ISM on the filtration of Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) that affect Earth 36, 37, 38, 39, 40. We believe it is quite reasonable to make the assumption that the LRCC has a common origin; it is the only structure of its kind in the sky, it forms a roughly straight line and it has a remarkably smooth velocity field 6. Yang, R.-z., de Ona Wilhelmi, E. & Aharonian, F. Probing cosmic rays in nearby giant molecular clouds with the Fermi Large Area Telescope.

Get the Android app