{"id":260929,"date":"2023-11-16T04:04:56","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T09:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/es\/?p=315413"},"modified":"2025-07-01T17:39:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T00:39:35","slug":"the-earth-has-eaten-a-cosmic-ray-coming-from-billions-of-millions-of-light-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/the-earth-has-eaten-a-cosmic-ray-coming-from-billions-of-millions-of-light-years\/","title":{"rendered":"The Earth has been hit by a cosmic ray coming from billions of light-years away"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just over a year ago, an unprecedented burst of light<\/strong> disrupted Earth’s upper atmosphere in a way never before detected by the scientific community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This event, now reported in the scientific journal Science<\/a><\/strong>, occurred on October 9, 2022, when a massive gamma-ray burst<\/a> from a colossal cosmic explosion located about two billion light-years away<\/strong> was visible in telescopes around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The burst ended up being dubbed “BOAT<\/strong>,” an acronym in English for “Brightest Of All Time,” and it lasted for 7 minutes<\/strong>. However, the flare was so powerful that amateur astronomers worldwide could see it for the next 7 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it wasn’t just a visible phenomenon; it also had a physical impact on our planet<\/strong>. To begin with, GRB 221009A<\/strong>, the scientific name given to the explosion, triggered a series of gamma-ray detectors in India and set off instruments typically used to study solar flares<\/a><\/strong> (bursts of energetic radiation on the Sun’s surface).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, it affected long-wave radio communications in the lower ionosphere<\/strong>, a section of Earth’s upper atmosphere situated between 60 and 350 kilometers above the surface, as well as the upper ionosphere<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The upper ionosphere is a section of the atmosphere situated between 350 and 950 kilometers above Earth’s surface, where solar radiation converts into charged particles forming an immense electric field<\/strong>. According to a team of Chinese and Italian researchers, it’s the first time a gamma-ray burst has been observed<\/strong> in this atmospheric layer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mirko Piersanti<\/strong>, a researcher from the Italian University of L’Aquila, stated that this research will help scientists understand the potential threat<\/strong> that other gamma-ray bursts could pose in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the worst-case scenario, if such a powerful burst originated from a closer source (like our own galaxy), it could “completely wipe out” Earth’s ozone layer<\/strong>, exposing everything on the surface to the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation and potentially leading to the extinction of life on the planet<\/strong>, as mentioned by Piersanti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, this would be in the worst possible scenario with rather low probabilities, though not zero. What’s clear is that this cosmic burst demonstrates that gamma-ray bursts can indeed impact even Earth’s upper ionosphere<\/strong>\u2014a fact previously unknown\u2014which will hold significant value for the scientific community.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Just over a year ago, an unprecedented burst of light disrupted Earth’s upper atmosphere in a way never before detected by the scientific community. This event, now reported in the scientific journal Science, occurred on October 9, 2022, when a massive gamma-ray burst from a colossal cosmic explosion located about two billion light-years away was … Continue reading “The Earth has been hit by a cosmic ray coming from billions of light-years away”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9256,"featured_media":260932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":2},"categories":[1015],"tags":[4289],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-260929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionnasa-app"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t