American scientists from Boston University have discovered that millions of years ago the Earth and the entire Solar System passed through dense interstellar clouds. This effect could have caused a sharp cooling of our planet. The research was published in the scientific journal magazine Geophysical Research Letters (GRL).
Interstellar clouds are large areas of gas and dust between stars in galaxies. They consist mostly of hydrogen, small amounts of helium, and traces of heavier elements.
Clouds play an important role in the life cycle of stars, providing material for the formation of new stars and seeding them with elements after stars die. They vary in size, density and location, and are an important part of galaxy evolution.
According to experts, the first encounter between Earth and an interstellar cloud may have occurred about 7 million years ago. This event was repeated 2 million years ago.
The team found that the interactions play a role in changes in Earth’s atmosphere.
They found that hydrogen levels in the upper atmosphere had increased significantly. The conversion of newly produced hydrogen into water molecules in the lower atmosphere also caused mesospheric ozone levels to decrease.
These processes will lead to the emergence of global noctilucent clouds in the mesosphere. They will not be permanent, but they could block 7% of the sunlight reaching the Earth, plunging our planet into an ice age.
Earlier scientists appreciated The possibility of a collision between the Milky Way and a neighboring galaxy.
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Source: Gazeta
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