Discovery of space object powerful enough to tear apart the Earth

A super member of a monster family that caused several mass extinctions on ancient Earth could create a real apocalypse on Earth-like planets.

According to Space , a group of scientists has just discovered a terrifying type of supernova that is powerful enough to tear apart a planet's atmosphere , making this "shell" that is essential for life unable to recover after many years of the event.

A supernova is the fiery death of a star. This spectacular event occurs in two common ways: A massive star suddenly collapses in on itself as its fuel runs out and explodes; or a star evolves toward death in a sequence that includes red giant to white dwarf and then suddenly restarts its internal nuclear reactions and explodes.

Graphic depicting an Earth-like planet "bathed" in the light, radiation. of a supernova - (Photo: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY).

Either way, a supernova releases a deadly sea of ​​radiation that can wreak havoc on any planet unlucky enough to be in its vicinity. Previous studies have shown that Earth has been "flooded" with supernova radiation multiple times, leading to mass extinctions.

One example of a supernova that humanity might have a chance to see is the star Betegleuse , one of the brightest stars in the sky and predicted to explode at any moment as it enters its "dying" phase.

Betegleuse could explode in your lifetime or in the next million years. At 600 light years away, it would be too far away to destroy Earth, but it would bathe the planet in light brighter than a full moon for several days.

But Betegleuse will not produce what a team of scientists from the Department of Astronomy and Department of Physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; the Department of Astrophysics at the University of Kansas; and the Department of Astrophysics at Washburn University (USA) have determined.

In research just published online on arXiv, the authors show that some stars nearing the end of their lives may be surrounded by a thick disk of material . After the initial supernova explosion, a shock wave forms and hits the disk, heating it to extremely high temperatures.

This disk itself will emit deadly X-rays that travel over extremely long distances. Planets unlucky enough to be within 150 light years of the "monster" could lose up to 50% of their ozone layer. If they are closer, the result could be a torn atmosphere that takes years to recover.

Months or years after the event, the 'skinned' planet will be bombarded with X-rays. Hundreds or thousands of years later, cosmic rays will continue to strike, not giving its biosphere a chance to recover.

Fortunately, there are currently no threatening X-ray supernova candidates in the vicinity of Earth. However, in the habitable regions of the galaxy, many other Earth-like planets could be at risk because there are many more stars out there that could potentially become this type of deadly supernova.