Life waxes and wanes with bobbing of the Solar System (Also effects planet temp)

The solar system's up-and-down motion across our galaxy's disc periodically exposes it to higher doses of dangerous cosmic rays, new calculations suggest. The effect could explain a mysterious dip in the Earth's biodiversity every 62 million years.

Previous research had suggested this motion might affect Earth's climate as the solar system passes through the giant hydrogen clouds concentrated in the galaxy's spiral arms. Some researchers have said these clouds could be dense enough to sprinkle the Earth's atmosphere with dust, blocking out sunlight and cooling the planet.

This timescale coincides with the 64 million years it takes for the solar system to move vertically through the disc of the galaxy and back again, he says.

Cosmic shield He says the effect is similar to the compression of the solar system's protective solar wind when it passes through a giant hydrogen cloud.

But the entire Milky Way is moving due north at 200 kilometres per second towards a giant grouping of galaxies called the Virgo Cluster. This movement compresses the galactic wind on the galaxy's north side, allowing in higher levels of potentially life-harming extragalactic cosmic rays, says Medvedev.

"When the Sun is moving up through the galactic plane, the cosmic ray flux is increasing, and when it goes down through the plane, it's decreasing," he told the conference. He said the periods of high extragalactic cosmic ray influxes match observed lows in biodiversity so well that the alignment has just a one in 10 million chance of being a coincidence.

Habitable zones "I think it's very convincing," says Paul Davies, an astrobiologist at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He says the research could shed light on "habitable" zones where life could most easily take hold.

Maybe we are getting close to the times that were talked about in the book of Revelation

Revelation - Chapter 16

Rev 16:1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

Rev 16:2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and [upon] them which worshipped his image.

Rev 16:3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead [man]: and every living soul died in the sea.

Rev 16:4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.

Rev 16:5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.

Rev 16:6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

Rev 16:7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous [are] thy judgments.

Rev 16:8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.

Rev 16:9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

Rev 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,

Rev 16:11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

Rev 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

Rev 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs [come] out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

Rev 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, [which] go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed [is] he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

Rev 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Rev 16:17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

Rev 16:18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, [and] so great.

Rev 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Rev 16:20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

Rev 16:21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, [every stone] about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

GGG Ping. (This is the Gods and Graves part of GGG)

Life waxes and wanes with bobbing of the Solar System

17:24 30 March 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Maggie McKee

The solar system moves through the Milky Way rather like a child on a merry-go-round. It completes a circuit of the galaxy once every 100 million years or so but as it goes it bobs up and down through the dense galactic disc.

Others have suggested the gravitational pull of the clouds may dislodge comets from their spherical halo surrounding the solar system and send them crashing into the Earth, causing major extinctions.

Compressed wind

Still other researchers have pointed out that the clouds could compress the solar wind, which shields the solar system from energetic cosmic rays from the galaxy. These cosmic rays - charged particles accelerated to high energies by supernova explosions - could then leak into the Earth's atmosphere. There they could spur the formation of clouds - cooling the planet - and destroy the ozone layer, killing off species by allowing harmful ultraviolet light to reach the Earth's surface.

However, the solar system takes a few hundred thousand years to pass through one of these giant clouds, and the fossil record does not show regular dips in biodiversity on this timescale, say Mikhail Medvedev and Adrian Melott of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, US. Instead, Medvedev cites a 2005 Nature study showing the number of species has dropped about every 62 million years for at least the past 542 million years.

This timescale coincides with the 64 million years it takes for the solar system to move vertically through the disc of the galaxy and back again, he says. Medvedev presented research linking the two effects at an astrobiology conference in Washington DC in the US this week.

Most of Earth's biggest extinctions occurred when the solar system was at its most northerly point in its cycle, which stretches about 230 light years above the galactic plane. Medvedev says that more cosmic rays enter the Earth's atmosphere at that point, killing off species.

Cosmic shield

He says the effect is similar to the compression of the solar system's protective solar wind when it passes through a giant hydrogen cloud. The Milky Way's stars produce a wind of charged particles whose magnetic fields deflect incoming cosmic rays from beyond the galaxy.

Habitable zones

"I think it's very convincing," says Paul Davies, an astrobiologist at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He says the research could shed light on "habitable" zones where life could most easily take hold.

These zones are found in the solar system where liquid water can persist, and in the Milky Way between the galactic centre - where radiation levels are dangerously high - and the galaxy's outskirts, which have a dearth of the heavy elements necessary for life.

"Then the question is: is there an intergalactic habitable zone?" he asks. He says the possibility that there are "sides of the galaxy where the cosmic ray flux could be high" suggests there is such a region between galaxies where the flux is low.

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