Interstellar Intruder: The Cosmic Event That Rewrote Earth’s Climate History

Two million years ago, the solar system encountered a dense interstellar cloud that may have significantly influenced Earth’s climate by compressing the heliosphere and exposing the planet to high levels of cosmic radiation and galactic rays. Credit: SciTechDaily.com

But what if drastic changes like these are not only a result of Earth’s environment, but also the sun’s location in the galaxy?lead author and astrophysicist Merav Opher—an astronomy professor at Boston University and fellow at Harvard Radcliffe Institute— found evidence that some two million years ago, the solar system encountered an interstellar cloud so dense that it could have interfered with the sun’s solar wind.

According to the paper, this aligns with geological evidence that shows increased 60Fe and 244Pu isotopes in the ocean, on the moon, Antarctic snow, and ice cores from the same time period. The timing also matches with temperature records that indicate a cooling period.“Only rarely does our cosmic neighborhood beyond the solar system affect life on Earth,” says Avi Loeb, director of Harvard University’s Institute for Theory and Computation and coauthor on the paper.

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NASA Voyager 1 Back To Science After Glitch In Interstellar SpaceI began my journalism career with Entrepreneur magazine with a focus on small business technology. As a freelance journalist, I’ve covered gadgets, geek culture, public schools, weird foods, transatlantic travel and Route 66.
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