Earth used to catch supernova dust

New research shows that a supernova explosion may have left a biological 'mark' on the ancient Earth's surface.

The specimen taken from the Pacific shelf may hold evidence of a distant supernova explosion, which rained high-energy particles on Earth several million years ago.

Supernova explosions are a special phenomenon of the universe - (Photo: NASA)

Shawn Bishop, a physicist at the Technical University of Munich (Germany), said sediments extracted from deep sea cores could contain radioactive iron elements emitted from a supernova that took place from long.

These traces are preserved in fossils of iron-loving bacteria deep in the sea floor.

Speaking at an American Physical Society event in Denver, Bishop said if the findings were confirmed, this would be the first biological evidence of a supernova explosion.

Accordingly, the sediment core contains iron isotope 60, which is not present on Earth, according to a Nature report.

While 60 iron content is quite low, the only place to find this form of sediment is in the seabed layer dating back 2.2 million years.