Monday 8 August 2011

intergalactic space - Would being ejected from the Milky Way Galaxy have any major impact on life on Earth?

I can think of two ways this benefits life.



  • Less chance of a passing star disrupting our Oort Cloud and sending
    deadly comets crashing into the Earth.

  • Less chance of nearby supernova destroying our ozone layer.

On the other hand, if our Solar System passes near a relativistic jet emanating from the central black hole of a galaxy, Earth will get hit with high speed particles that will disrupt the magnetosphere and ozone layer. Definitely not good for any life on Earth at that time.



Getting ejected from the galaxy also means there is less chance of future humans exploring the galaxy by hopping to nearby stars. We'd only have our solar system to explore and colonize. There would not be another star system within a hundred thousand light years.

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