Earth May Have Been Hit By a Gamma-Ray Burst In 775 AD 157
The Bad Astronomer writes "Studies of carbon-14 in Japanese trees and beryllium-10 in Antarctic ice indicate the Earth was hit by a big radiation blast in 775 AD. Although very rare, occurring only once every million years or so, the most likely culprit is a gamma-ray burst, a cosmic explosion accompanying the birth of a black hole. While a big solar flare is still in the running, a GRB from merging neutron stars produces the ratio of carbon and beryllium observed, and also can explain why no bright explosion was seen at the time, and no supernova remnant is seen now."
and William of Bixby (Score:2, Funny)
became ye olde incredible hulke...
The earth seems quiet... (Score:4, Funny)
But you not like earth when EARTH ANGRY! RAAWWWRR
How many times did this happen? (Score:5, Funny)
http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/06/04/1147201/what-struck-earth-in-775 [slashdot.org]
Now we know (Score:5, Funny)
They were really the Glow-In-The-Dark Ages.
Re:Effects on Humans and animals (Score:5, Funny)
It killed off all the creatures that only lived back then - dragons, elves, fairies, witches and the like.
Re:His tree data is wrong (Score:4, Funny)
A tree older than the world? That must be the one Eve picked the fruit from!
Re:Umm? How far away would it have been? (Score:5, Funny)
I would still call it an article if it just contained the word "the".
Definitely.
Re:Umm? How far away would it have been? (Score:5, Funny)
Specifically... the risk of crashing into solid matter that doesn't emit or reflect light.
I see that you too own a black lab that sleeps between the bed and the bathroom...