https://greekreporter.com/2023/11/16/gamma-ray-burst-strikes-earth-distant-exploding-star/

Gamma-Ray Burst Strikes Earth From Distant Exploding Star

An especially bright and long-lasting burst of gamma rays,
called GRB 221009A, caught the attention of high-tech
satellites circling the Earth. Like ESA’s INTEGRAL
mission, these satellites are always on the lookout
for such cosmic events.

Its strength is so remarkable that the closest comparison
on record is ten times less powerful.

For about eight hundred seconds, when the gamma rays
hit, the energy was strong enough to trigger lightning
detectors in India. Instruments in Germany picked up
on the fact that the blast disturbed Earth’s ionosphere
for several hours.

.. . .

This was from FAR FAR away.

However it's a good hint of what CAN happen, with
almost no warning.

Black holes, or incipent ones, can emit a powerful
beam of gamma radiation from their polar regions.
It is a narrow beam - which makes it a STRONG beam.

Gamma rays are NOT good, despite the Marvel
movies. As they travel at lightspeed, ARE
'light' per-se, there are only indirect ways
of predicting their arrival.

THIS one was caught mostly by our ionosphere, but
anything stronger would do damage even deeper,
perhaps causing the creation of vast quantities
of nitrogen oxides in the stratosphere. Nitrogen
oxides + moisture = nitric acid. This is death
for the fabled ozone layer. That means death for
a lot of terrestrial life as gigantic amounts
of UV light reach the surface - likely for
years.

There are a number of stars in our "neighborhood"
that are destined to implode into black holes.
The nearest/soonest will surely be Betelgeuse.
Fortunately it's polar axis will send the deadly
beams away from us, though something somewhere
is gonna have a bad day. If the beams from that
star WERE pointed at us we'd be absolute toast.

Hide underground ? How long does it take for
plants and such to regenerate, produce new oxygen ?
A million years likely, even IF you re-seed the land
and sea. Doubt we can DO a million years. Likely
not a million days.

Hey, we've gotten away with it for a VERY long
time - maybe forever ... but maybe NOT forever.
It remains to be seen if some mass-extinction
events were triggered by gamma-ray bursts. Some
mineral crystals MAY reveal telltale damage or
carry tiny atmospheric inclusions. If these
things are more common than we now know, or can
be predicted some years in advance, it MIGHT
be wise to create a biological reserve DEEP
underground.

56d.1152 wrote on 17/11/23 5:23 pm:
> https://greekreporter.com/2023/11/16/gamma-ray-burst-strikes-earth-distant-exploding-star/
>
>
> Gamma-Ray Burst Strikes Earth From Distant Exploding Star
>
> An especially bright and long-lasting burst of gamma rays,
> called GRB 221009A, caught the attention of high-tech
> satellites circling the Earth. Like ESA’s INTEGRAL
> mission, these satellites are always on the lookout
> for such cosmic events.
>
> Its strength is so remarkable that the closest comparison
> on record is ten times less powerful.

Don't you just hate that?? "ten times less"!!

What you/they really meant was that the previous 'record holder' is only
*one tenth* as strong as the new 'record holder'!!
--
Daniel