Thread: do we know if the earth has ever been hit by a gamma ray burst

I was reading about wr104. Filix.

Gamma-ray burst - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All the time.

Thankyou mathman. I was thinking more of a direct hit from a close GRB. Like from wr 104. Or even closer like betelgeuse, if it does produce one. I don't know how one would tell if one like that has hit in the past. Would it leave a finger print? Filix.

Thankyou very much mathman. I quess I was thinking more about a close direct hit from a close gamma ray. Like wr 104. Or even betelgeuse. If it does produce one. I dont know how one could find out if one hit in the past. Would it leave a fingerprint of some sort? Filix.

Sorry about the double post. Filix.

Originally Posted by filix

Thankyou very much mathman. I quess I was thinking more about a close direct hit from a close gamma ray. Like wr 104. Or even betelgeuse. If it does produce one. I dont know how one could find out if one hit in the past. Would it leave a fingerprint of some sort? Filix.

I don't have a definite answer, but gamma ray effects are generally at the atomic, not nuclear level, so I suspect there would be no long term signature.

People are looking for nitrogen oxide signatures in ice cores caused by x-ray / gamma rays
[0902.3446] An Antarctic ice core recording both supernovae and solar cycles

Thanks PetTastic. Nice link. Ice cores are very cool. Without doing any research, I think They have drilled to over a million years in antartica. Not that far back in Greenland? Filix.