Gamma Ray Bursts and Astrobiology
Gamma ray bursts (GRB) and astrobiology are two topics that would certainly be on anyone’s list of ‘hot topics’ in astronomy. Imagine finding both topics in a single paper. If you go to this paper by astronomers from Cuba and Brazil you will find these topics paired. Within the paper to be published in the journal Astrophysics and Space Science, astronomers ponder the possible effects of GRBs that took place during the Phanerozoic Era on Earth. The Phanerozoic Era is the current era and “covers roughly 545 million years and goes back to the time when diverse hard-shelled animals first appeared.” In particular these astronomers consider “a connection between supernovae and the extinction of tropical American mollusks that took place around the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary.” The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary is a period of time about 2.6 million years ago.