The History of the Universe Is Written on the Ocean Floor
“You can use sea sediments as a telescope to learn about the supernova, and conduct supernova archaeology,” says Brian Fields, an astrophysicist at the University of Illinois who was one of the first people to propose doing this. “You’re digging into the earth to look at the cosmic past.”
.. When looking for dead star remains, scientists use a radioactive isotope called iron-60, which supernovas churn out in vast quantities (Earthly sources produce only one-tenth as much).
.. the stardust would have taken about 100,000 years to shower Earth. Around the same interval, Earth experienced a sharp decline in global temperatures, and the onset of the Pleistocene ice ages. The cause of these climate changes is still under debate, but some anthropologists argue that the shift contributed to the evolution of human ancestors. The creep of glaciers was linked to a great drying throughout Africa, which caused forested ecosystems to become arid grasslands.
.. The closest one to go off next will be Betelgeuse, one of the night sky’s brightest, and a key fixture in the constellation Orion. It is about as big as the stars that Breitschwerdt studied, but twice as distant, and its violent ending will amount to little more than a spectacular light show here on Earth.