Archiv: Milky Way (this galaxy) / Milchstraße (diese Galaxie)


13.11.2025 - 18:46 [ Harvard University ]

More than a planetary fender-bender: New study finds Earth collided with dense interstellar cloud, possibly affecting life on planet

(June 10, 2024)

Evidence of a long-ago collision involving the Earth was there in the form of specific radioactive isotopes deposited across the Earth and Moon. There were, however, skeptics.

But now researchers have tracked the sun’s path through the Milky Way back to a crash 2 to 3 million years ago with a dense interstellar cloud. The event was so violent it appears to have collapsed the sun’s protective bubble around the solar system and possibly even affected life on Earth.

(…)

“We don’t often discuss the impact of astrophysics on Earth because the astronomical timescales are very long, and the human species emerged on Earth just a few million years ago,” Loeb said. “But a few million years ago there was the potential for us to be passing through a very dense cloud. We didn’t work out the biological implications, but it’s clear that if you shrink the heliosphere to within the orbit of the Earth around the sun, we are not protected anymore. It could have significant implications for life on Earth.”

31.01.2025 - 01:00 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

SPHEREx

About the mission

Launch date: Late February 2025

The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) is a planned two-year mission that will survey the sky in optical as well as near-infrared light which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 450 million galaxies, as well as, more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way.

31.01.2025 - 00:30 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

NASA to Preview Sky-Mapping Space Telescope Ahead of Launch

NASA will host a news conference at 12 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 31, to discuss a new telescope that will improve our understanding of how the universe evolved and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy.

Agency experts will preview NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission, which will help scientists better understand the structure of the universe, how galaxies form and evolve, and the origins and abundance of water. Launch is targeted for no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27.

30.05.2019 - 15:49 [ Researchgate.net ]

Cosmic-ray volleys from the Galactic Center and their recent impact on the earth environment

(March 1987)

7. Conclusions

The folowing conclusions are proposed:

1) Periodically the center of our galaxy enters an explsive phase during which it generates an outburst of cosmic rays in the form of highly relativistic electrons and positrons with total particle energies of 10 to the power of 57 ergs or more.
2) These outburst last anywhere from several hundred to several thousand years, major events recurring about once every 5000-15000 years.