* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Sunday, June 22, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Netflix unveils Dallas immersive venue for fans of hit shows like ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Stranger Things’ – Houston Chronicle

    Step Inside Netflix’s New Dallas Immersive Experience Featuring Hits Like ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Stranger Things

    ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’: Civic Players bring ‘Young Frankenstein’ to life – Yahoo

    Civic Players Deliver a Hilarious and Unforgettable Performance of ‘Young Frankenstein

    ‘Wheel of Fortune’: Amputee Wins $60,000 After Breaking Incredible ‘Curse’ – Hastings Tribune

    Wheel of Fortune’ Amputee Breaks Incredible ‘Curse’ to Win $60,000!

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

    Safety concerns in Deep Ellum create apprehension as the entertainment district gains visitors – CBS News

    Safety Concerns Surge Amid Deep Ellum’s Booming Popularity and Growing Crowds

    Elisabeth Moss’ ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Emmy chances, by the numbers – Yahoo

    Elisabeth Moss’ ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Emmy chances, by the numbers – Yahoo

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    How AI can help make cities work better for residents – MIT Technology Review

    How AI can help make cities work better for residents – MIT Technology Review

    Tech Champions with Leo Bletnitsky of Healthy Technology Solutions – Buzz Media Group

    Meet Tech Champion Leo Bletnitsky of Healthy Technology Solutions

    Crypto’s true revolution is about humanity, not technology – Cointelegraph

    Crypto’s Real Revolution: Transforming Humanity Beyond Technology

    $1 Billion Problem: New Technology Could Save Your Daily Cup of Coffee – SciTechDaily

    The $1 Billion Challenge: How New Technology Could Rescue Your Daily Cup of Coffee

    Canada’s construction industry gets serious about investing in technology as pressure mounts to do more with less – Yahoo Finance

    Canada’s Construction Industry Accelerates Tech Investments to Overcome Growing Challenges and Boost Efficiency

    Workforce Technology Eases Staffing Shortages in Rural Health Care – AJMC

    Workforce Technology Eases Staffing Shortages in Rural Health Care – AJMC

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Netflix unveils Dallas immersive venue for fans of hit shows like ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Stranger Things’ – Houston Chronicle

    Step Inside Netflix’s New Dallas Immersive Experience Featuring Hits Like ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Stranger Things

    ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’: Civic Players bring ‘Young Frankenstein’ to life – Yahoo

    Civic Players Deliver a Hilarious and Unforgettable Performance of ‘Young Frankenstein

    ‘Wheel of Fortune’: Amputee Wins $60,000 After Breaking Incredible ‘Curse’ – Hastings Tribune

    Wheel of Fortune’ Amputee Breaks Incredible ‘Curse’ to Win $60,000!

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

    Safety concerns in Deep Ellum create apprehension as the entertainment district gains visitors – CBS News

    Safety Concerns Surge Amid Deep Ellum’s Booming Popularity and Growing Crowds

    Elisabeth Moss’ ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Emmy chances, by the numbers – Yahoo

    Elisabeth Moss’ ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Emmy chances, by the numbers – Yahoo

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    How AI can help make cities work better for residents – MIT Technology Review

    How AI can help make cities work better for residents – MIT Technology Review

    Tech Champions with Leo Bletnitsky of Healthy Technology Solutions – Buzz Media Group

    Meet Tech Champion Leo Bletnitsky of Healthy Technology Solutions

    Crypto’s true revolution is about humanity, not technology – Cointelegraph

    Crypto’s Real Revolution: Transforming Humanity Beyond Technology

    $1 Billion Problem: New Technology Could Save Your Daily Cup of Coffee – SciTechDaily

    The $1 Billion Challenge: How New Technology Could Rescue Your Daily Cup of Coffee

    Canada’s construction industry gets serious about investing in technology as pressure mounts to do more with less – Yahoo Finance

    Canada’s Construction Industry Accelerates Tech Investments to Overcome Growing Challenges and Boost Efficiency

    Workforce Technology Eases Staffing Shortages in Rural Health Care – AJMC

    Workforce Technology Eases Staffing Shortages in Rural Health Care – AJMC

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

An interstellar cloud may have caused an ice age on Earth. Here’s how

June 11, 2024
in Science
An interstellar cloud may have caused an ice age on Earth. Here’s how
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A blue, green and white sphere surrounded by orange swirls

An illustration shows Earth entering a corridor of interstellar gas and dust 2 million years ago.
(Image credit: Robert Lea (created with Canva))

Scientists believe Earth may have briefly lost protection from the sun around two million years ago, left to endure the extreme environment of interstellar space as the solar system passed through a dense cloud of gas and dust between stars.

At that time, early human ancestors shared our planet with prehistoric animals like mastodons and sabretooth tigers. It’s also when Earth was in the midst of the ice age that ended only around 12,000 years ago. Ice ages are brought about by a range of factors, including our planet’s tilt and rotation, carbon dioxide levels in its atmosphere, and shifting plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions at its surface. However, given the timing of when scientists think Earth plunged through interstellar space, this research suggests radical changes in our planet’s climate, like the onset and ending of ice ages, could also be influenced by the position of our solar system in our home galaxy.

More specifically, the team behind the new findings suggests the solar system could have encountered a dense patch of interstellar gas and dust as it traversed the Milky Way two million years ago. And that patch may have been thick enough to interfere with a stream of charged particles called the “solar wind” flowing from the sun and impacting Earth, potentially causing plunging temperatures.

Related: ‘God’s Hand’ interstellar cloud reaches for the stars in new Dark Energy Camera image (video)

“This paper is the first to quantitatively show there was an encounter between the sun and something outside of the solar system that would have affected Earth’s climate,” research lead author Merav Opher, a space physicist and expert on the heliosphere at Boston University, said in a statement.

The solar system, back in time

Our entire solar system is enveloped in a “giant bubble” of protective plasma that comes from the sun, which is known as the “heliosphere.” This protective shield is created when solar winds press on the interstellar medium, which refers to stuff that drifts through the spaces between stars in the Milky Way. The heliosphere is perpetually refreshed by a constant flow of charged particles from the sun, which stream out past Pluto.

The heliosphere shields Earth’s surface from radiation and galactic rays that could potentially impact the DNA of living things. This shielding is so crucial that many scientists believe it was integral to the emergence and evolution of life on Earth.

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

This team thinks that it is possible a cold cloud of interstellar material could have once stymied the solar wind in such a way that the heliosphere was compressed. This might have, for a short period (in cosmic terms), removed Earth and other solar system planets from the protection offered by the heliosphere. 

“Stars move, and now this paper is showing not only that they move, but they encounter drastic changes,” Opher added. 

A golden disk surround by three blue shells which are pressed on by blue arrows

A diagram showing the heliosphere sheilding the solar system from the dense and cold conditions of the interstellar medium (Image credit: Southwest Research Institute)

To determine the effect such a bombardment of dense interstellar dust on the heliosphere would have had on Earth, Opher wound back the clock with sophisticated computer models. This allowed her and the team to visualize where the sun was positioned two million years ago and also determine where the heliosphere and the rest of the solar system were at this time.

They also tracked the progress of a string of dense cold gas called the “Local Ribbon of Cold Clouds system” back through time as it swept through the Milky Way. This revealed that one dense cloud at the tail-end of the Local Ribbon of Cold Clouds system, called the “Local Lynx of Cold Cloud,” could have clashed with the heliosphere.

This would have left Earth exposed to the interstellar medium, including the heavy and radioactive elements that populate it, which are the remains of massive stars that die in supernova explosions. The heliosphere usually blocks these particles — without that shielding, these radioactive elements could have rained down on Earth. This could explain an increase in the isotopes iron 60 and plutonium 244 found in Antarctic snow and ice cores and on the moon that correspond to a period two million years ago. The timing of the heliosphere’s clash with the Local Lynx of Cold Cloud also corresponds to a cooling period on Earth two million years ago. 

Opher theorizes the pressure from the Local Lynx of Cold Cloud could have restricted the heliosphere for a period as short as a few hundred years, or as long as a million years. This would all depend on how large the cloud actually was, Opher said. She added that the heliosphere would have grown to surround the planets again after the influence of this dense cloud had gone.

For now, however, it is hard to precisely determine the impact this cold interstellar cloud would have had on Earth, including if it could have truly sparked an ice age. The team will now investigate even further back in time to find other times the solar system crossed paths with dense interstellar clouds and to determine if these also line up with ice ages.

She and her team are also now exploring the effect of so much hydrogen and radioactive material crossing paths with Earth’s atmosphere.

“This cloud was indeed in our past, and if we crossed something that massive, we were exposed to the interstellar medium,” Opher said. “This is only the beginning.”

The team’s research was published on Monday (June 10) in Nature Astronomy.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Space.com – https://www.space.com/earth-dense-interstellar-cloud-solar-protection-lost

Tags: cloudInterstellarscience
Previous Post

A missing link in the timeline of Earth’s chemistry may have been found

Next Post

India’s Aditya-L1 solar probe snaps shots of our hyperactive sun during May outburst (photos)

What role will Pope Leo XIV play in the future of Laudato Si’ ecological action? – National Catholic Reporter

What role will Pope Leo XIV play in the future of Laudato Si’ ecological action? – National Catholic Reporter

June 22, 2025
Opinion: What if MAGA Has a Point About Science? – Undark Magazine

What If MAGA Is Right About Science?

June 22, 2025
Are We Ready To Redefine the Second? Scientists Just Took a Major Step – SciTechDaily

Are We Ready to Redefine the Second? Scientists Achieve a Groundbreaking Breakthrough

June 22, 2025
What’s your ‘biological age’? And here’s how to lower it… – BreakingNews.ie

What’s your ‘biological age’? And here’s how to lower it… – BreakingNews.ie

June 22, 2025
Club World Cup trophy won’t make up for last season – Guardiola – BBC

Guardiola: Club World Cup Trophy Can’t Erase Last Season’s Disappointment

June 22, 2025
Russia’s Economy Minister Warns of Looming Recession – The Moscow Times

Russia’s Economy Minister Warns of an Imminent Recession

June 22, 2025
Governor Ferguson appoints a new director for the Health Care Authority – KIMA

Governor Ferguson Appoints Dynamic New Leader to Head Health Care Authority

June 22, 2025
‘Sleeping giant’: Jewish Voters Unite pushes NY Jews to flex political power – JNS.org

Sleeping Giant Awakens: How Jewish Voters Are Uniting to Flex Political Power in New York

June 22, 2025
How AI can help make cities work better for residents – MIT Technology Review

How AI can help make cities work better for residents – MIT Technology Review

June 22, 2025
Angel Reese Has No Words After Another Blowout Loss – Yahoo Sports

Angel Reese Left Speechless After Another Crushing Defeat

June 22, 2025

Categories

Archives

June 2025
MTWTFSS
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30 
« May    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (697)
  • Economy (711)
  • Entertainment (21,611)
  • General (15,509)
  • Health (9,752)
  • Lifestyle (716)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (714)
  • Politics (718)
  • Science (15,930)
  • Sports (21,207)
  • Technology (15,696)
  • World (691)

Recent News

What role will Pope Leo XIV play in the future of Laudato Si’ ecological action? – National Catholic Reporter

What role will Pope Leo XIV play in the future of Laudato Si’ ecological action? – National Catholic Reporter

June 22, 2025
Opinion: What if MAGA Has a Point About Science? – Undark Magazine

What If MAGA Is Right About Science?

June 22, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version