Sea Life Wiped Out by Neutron Star Collision?

Memorize writes "Scientists report in the Journal of Astrophysical Letters that a mass extinction of marine life 450 million years ago might have been caused by radiation from an exploding star, such as a collision between two neutron stars, or a neutron star collapsing into a black hole. Such an event would cause a ten-second burst of gamma radiation, and if it occurred within our galaxy, it could have wiped out many species on earth. At least if astronomers find out that an asteroid is heading our way, we can do something about it, but if there is a gamma burst, we get no warning. And if we did, would there be any way to protect the planet?"

Comments

Re:Loss of ozone: COne or Rod?

[davidsyes]

IANAGPOOS (I am not a geo-physicist or other scientist), and I did not RTMFA, but what's to say the Gamma radiation will be particles size in wavelength?

I mean, what if the burst were/is sufficiently huge to initate a sort of "cascade" or wave of particles like a "gamma train"? Not as a conical intersection but as a rod or train-like intersection, almost piggy-backing us. (We'd not only lose the Ozone, but we'd all lose or "loose/n" (heheh) our only-remaining, other "O-zone".) I imagine with all the stellar flotsam from two colliding stars, there would be rippling or wave action in space. If that unlikely collision hit/s, and if it finds Earth, a 12-hour gamma train would coalesce or bathe the Earth sufficiently long to nullfy another 25% to 45% of the initially "unbathed" population. That is, the Earth would be orbiting in the wave bath assuming it arrived in sync with rather than tangental to Earths path in the solar system.

Even scarier, what if, as with unpredictable Tsunamis, a second or even third wave followed the first or second waves at slightly oblique angles but still managed to reach Earth only minutes or hours behind. There could an amplification effect, or hyper-concentration in some areas of the atmosphere or water table. (But, in the case of Tsunamis, somme fo the waves can take up to 4 hours to trail the iniitial devastation...)

David Syes