Possible impact on Earth's history: Solar system has crossed the Orion complex
Around 14 million years ago, the sun and its planets passed through a region full of interstellar dust. This could have influenced the climate.
The Orion Belt, from this region in the night sky comes the solar system
(Image: JoĂŁo Alves)
14 million years ago, the solar system passed through the so-called Orion star formation complex, which may have resulted in drastic climatic changes. This is suggested by a recently presented research paper by a team led by astrophysicist Efrem Maconi from the University of Vienna. According to the study, the sun and its planets passed through the so-called “Radcliffe Wave”, a gigantic structure of interconnected gas clouds that was only discovered a year ago. Its interstellar dust could have compressed the heliosphere and penetrated the Earth's atmosphere. Traces of this could still be awaiting discovery.
Possibly responsible for climate change
The interdisciplinary research work was once again made possible thanks to data from the revolutionary Gaia space telescope. The precise information on the movement of the stars revealed that the solar system passed through the Orion star formation complex when “well-known star clusters such as NGC 1977, NGC 1980 and NGC 1981 formed there”, adds co-author João Alves. This most likely happened between 12.4 and 14.8 million years ago and thus during an epoch in Earth's history when a warm, changeable climate was replaced by a cooler climate in the middle Miocene. Whether there is a connection is still unclear, but “it would be possible in terms of time”.
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The team adds that the processes responsible for the slow climate change in the Miocene have not yet been fully clarified. The work now shows that interstellar dust could have played a role. For this to be the case, however, significantly more of it would have to have arrived on Earth than previously detected in the Earth's layers. However, it is possible that our technology is simply not yet sensitive enough to detect it. However, it is important for the team to add that the climate change in question cannot be compared with current climate change. Here we are talking about a period of several hundred thousand years, whereas the current dramatic changes are occurring in decades.
The research work now published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics joins a growing list of studies that establish links between developments on Earth and the path of the solar system through the Milky Way. Just a few months ago, for example, an astronomer from the USA presented her hypothesis that the current ice age was triggered by an interstellar cloud of dense gas and dust. Evidence has even been found for a connection between the development of the Earth's crust and its path through the Milky Way. Alves' team now wants to investigate further encounters in the solar system and their influence on the Earth's development.
(mho)
