About 2.6 million years ago, there may have been a supernova (or other event) that caused a burst of comic rays lasting 100k years.
15 minute video
I follow this guy, Paul Fellows, on YouTube, and he has re-awakened an interest in astronomy for me during the last few months. He may not have a very large subscriber count, but is well regarded by several.
For those who do not like watching video, here is a link describing some of the research mentioned ,
DNA-busting radiation from star-killing supernova could have influenced evolution on Earth
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That’s around the same time as Earth last passed through the central plane of the Milky Way.
https://www.bu.edu/articles/2024/the-solar-system-may-have-passed-through-interstellar-clouds/
One theory predicts that passing through a sufficiently dense cloud of interstellar gas would collapse our Sun’s heliosphere, exposing Earth to cosmic rays & producing evidence that would be difficult to distinguish from a nearby supernova hitting our planet.
I wonder if both the cold cloud and a supernova happened at the same time?
The cosmic ray theory is pretty wild - these muon particles can penetrate deep underground and even through ocean water, potentially causing DNA mutations at rates 20-30x higher than normal background radiation durng that period.
Super interesting presentation
