Planetary Threat Log

[The Mad Monk]

Because it's important to know why we really, really have to get off this rock, and because I'm bored, I'm setting up this thread to record every potential threat to our survival on a planetary scale.

Feel free to add your own, but please, no science fiction -- the actual universe is scary enough as it is.

[DaShi]

How about that we're on a spinning ball of mud, covered by a thin layer of gas, surrounded by a infinite void of vacuous death! I'm hiding under the bed.

[The Mad Monk]

Brightest Galactic Flash Ever Detected Hits Earth
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 18 February, 2005
2 p.m. ET


A huge explosion halfway across the galaxy packed so much power it briefly altered Earth's upper atmosphere in December, astronomers said Friday.

No known eruption beyond our solar system has ever appeared as bright upon arrival.

But you could not have seen it, unless you can top the X-ray vision of Superman: In gamma rays, the event equaled the brightness of the full Moon's reflected visible light.

The blast originated about 50,000 light-years away and was detected Dec. 27. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).

The commotion was caused by a special variety of neutron star known as a magnetar. These fast-spinning, compact stellar corpses -- no larger than a big city -- create intense magnetic fields that trigger explosions. The blast was 100 times more powerful than any other similar eruption witnessed, said David Palmer of Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of several researchers around the world who monitored the event with various telescopes.

Tsunami Connection?
Several readers wondered if the magnetar blast could be related to the December tsunami. Scientists have made no such connection. The blast affected Earth's ionosphere, which is routinely affected to a greater extent by changes in solar activity.
"Had this happened within 10 light-years of us, it would have severely damaged our atmosphere and possibly have triggered a mass extinction," said Bryan Gaensler of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).

There are no magnetars close enough to worry about, however, Gaensler and two other astronomers told SPACE.com. But the strength of the tempest has them marveling over the dying star's capabilities while also wondering if major species die-offs in the past might have been triggered by stellar explosions.

'Once-in-a-lifetime'

The Sun is a middle-aged star about 8 light-minutes from us. It's tantrums, though cosmically pitiful compared to the magnetar explosion, routinely squish Earth's protective magnetic field and alter our atmosphere, lighting up the night sky with colorful lights called aurora.

Solar storms also alter the shape of Earth's ionosphere, a region of the atmosphere 50 miles (80 kilometers) up where gas is so thin that electrons can be stripped from atoms and molecules -- they are ionized -- and roam free for short periods. Fluctuations in solar radiation cause the ionosphere to expand and contract.

"The gamma rays hit the ionosphere and created more ionization, briefly expanding the ionosphere," said Neil Gehrels, lead scientist for NASA's gamma-ray watching Swift observatory.

Gehrels said in an email interview that the effect was similar to a solar-induced disruption but that the effect was "much smaller than a big solar flare."

Still, scientists were surprised that a magnetar so far away could alter the ionosphere.

"That it can reach out and tap us on the shoulder like this, reminds us that we really are linked to the cosmos," said Phil Wilkinson of IPS Australia, that country's space weather service.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime event," said Rob Fender of Southampton University in the UK. "We have observed an object only 20 kilometers across [12 miles], on the other side of our galaxy, releasing more energy in a tenth of a second than the Sun emits in 100,000 years."

Some researchers have speculated that one or more known mass extinctions hundreds of millions of years ago might have been the result of a similar blast altering Earth's atmosphere. There is no firm data to support the idea, however. But astronomers say the Sun might have been closer to other stars in the past.

A similar blast within 10 light-years of Earth "would destroy the ozone layer," according to a CfA statement, "causing abrupt climate change and mass extinctions due to increased radiation."

The all-clear has been sounded, however.

"None of the known sample [of magnetars] are closer than about 4,000-5,000 light years from us," Gaensler said. "This is a very safe distance."

Cause a mystery

Researchers don't know exactly why the burst was so incredible. The star, named SGR 1806-20, spins once on its axis every 7.5 seconds, and it is surrounded by a magnetic field more powerful than any other object in the universe.

"We may be seeing a massive release of magnetic energy during a 'starquake' on the surface of the object," said Maura McLaughlin of the University of Manchester in the UK.

Another possibility is that the magnetic field more or less snapped in a process scientists call magnetic reconnection.

Gamma rays are the highest form of radiation on the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes X-rays, visible light and radio waves too.

The eruption was also recorded by the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array of radio telescopes, along with other European satellites and telescopes in Australia.

Explosive details

A neutron star is the remnant of a star that was once several times more massive than the Sun. When their nuclear fuel is depleted, they explode as a supernova. The remaining dense core is slightly more massive than the Sun but has a diameter typically no more than 12 miles (20 kilometers).

Millions of neutron stars fill the Milky Way galaxy. A dozen or so are ultra-magnetic neutron stars -- magnetars. The magnetic field around one is about 1,000 trillion gauss, strong enough to strip information from a credit card at a distance halfway to the Moon, scientists say.

Of the known magnetars, four are called soft gamma repeaters, or SGRs, because they flare up randomly and release gamma rays. The flare on SGR 1806-20 unleashed about 10,000 trillion trillion trillion watts of power.

"The next biggest flare ever seen from any soft gamma repeater was peanuts compared to this incredible Dec. 27 event," said Gaensler of the CfA.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/bright_flash_050218.html

The fact is, we don't really know how much energy a magnetar can produce, or if any of these naturally occuring Death Stars are in "effective range". Hopefully, Chandra will help clear this up.

[The Mad Monk]

More darkstar fun:

Closest Known Neutron Star Races Across Sky
posted: 02:57 pm ET
09 November 2000



A relatively small, dense object racing across the sky and heading our way at more than 100 times the speed of a Concorde jet has been identified as our solar system's closest known neutron star.

The compact remains of an ancient explosion, less than 12 miles (19 kilometers) in diameter but 10 trillion times denser than steel, the neutron star zips along at roughly 240,000 miles per hour (108 kilometers per second). Most neutron stars are found in paired or binary star systems but this runaway object has broken free of its larger companion, giving astronomers a rare treat.


"The scientific importance of this object lies in the fact that the neutron star is isolated," says Frederick M. Walter of the State University of New York in Stony Brook. Walter said the object is surprisingly hot, probably due to the fact that it is relatively young and still cooling off.

"Since we know its approximate age, we can test how fast neutron stars cool off," Walter said.





The location of the neutron star from 1996 to 1999. In 5,400 years, RX J185635-3754 moves a distance in the sky equal to the diameter of the Moon.

The object, first spotted in 1992, was confirmed to be a neutron star in 1996. But only now has its distance from Earth been determined, using data provided by the Hubble Space Telescope. The object, also described as the corpse of a star, currently is about 200 light-years away. It is due to pass by Earth in about 300,000 years, but will safely miss by about 170 light-years.

Because the neutron star, called RX J185635-3754, is relatively nearby and all by itself, astronomers will be able to glean valuable information about star formation by studying it. Most neutron stars are hard to study as they are a billion or more light-years away.

Researchers say that RX J185635-3754 was probably shot like a cannonball when its larger companion star exploded as a supernova a million years ago. The other star, now a hot blue star, has been seen racing in another direction. Calculations show that the two were likely orbiting each other before the explosion in a configuration known as a binary star system.

The explosion would have been visible to our earthly ancestors in about 1 million B.C., scientists say. Supernova explosions are very complex and not well understood. Nor is the structure of a neutron star known in any detail.

The results were presented November 9 at a meeting of the High-Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu. A paper on the finding will be published in the Astrophysical Journal.

So if they they aren't sterilizing large swaths of the galaxy with death rays, they are speeding through our neighborhood like a runaway locomotive. Great.

[Provost Harrison]

108 kilometres per second is pretty slow in the scheme of things...it will take nearly 3000 years to traverse a light year.

[child of Thor]

Cool thread

I suppose this is the problem of looking more closely at the universe around us.

Scientists say we should, for knowledge etc, but maybe the more we know the more global worry will increase, and this in itself can have 'mass extinction' effects caused by the trickle down effects of our own actions on earth?

[The Mad Monk]

I am rather hoping for 'mass migration', myself.

[atomant]

I always thought the human race was the biggest threat to the earth (and humanity)

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by atomant
I always thought the human race was the biggest threat to the earth (and humanity)

Well, it'll be a turn up for the books if it isn't us, if nothing else

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
I am rather hoping for 'mass migration', myself.

Quickly followed by a 'mass extinction'

[The Mad Monk]

No.

[Space05us]

Well as I understand it there are trillions of small aliens trying to invade every day. Many make it in but luckily our defenses are very strong and they end up dead. Unfortunatly others are not so luckly, due to lack of supplies and men as a result of constantly fighting massive battles they fall. There are also terrorists which attempt to assault our control centers, but thanks to intel from others we are able to avoid disaster.

Here we have some footage of our soldiers in action, they are protecting the border commonly refered to as the "nose"

[The Mad Monk]

No sci fi or fantasy, please.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
No sci fi or fantasy, please.

You're the one who mentioned migrating from earth in the opening post, what do you expect?

[The Mad Monk]

More than you're capable of, apparently.