4 ms·
How big is a GRB? Would going to Alpha Centauri help? How far would you need to go?
by skykooler 4y ago
How big is a GRB? Would going to Alpha Centauri help? How far would you need to go?
- saagarjha 4y agoA gamma ray burst within several thousand light years of Earth is likely to sterilize it.
- wazzaps 4y agoEven the tardigrades?
- _nalply 4y agoGamma rays are photons. Photons influence matter. One example is infrared which we sense as warmth. I am somewhat fuzzy here, but I imagine that these photons bump into the atoms of our skin such that they tend to shake more vigourously than before. This is heat. I can imagine that gamma rays of a gamma ray burst are plentiful and hard enough to influence the tardigrade matter to an extent to even kill tardigrades. This said I see a way how tardigrades could survive a gamma ray burst. They are inside an asteroid or even inside a Mars-like planet. Even if the gamma rays ablate a significant chunk of the crust, enough will remain to protect the tardigrades. So some tardigrades might be lucky to survive a gamma ray burst nearby. Just speculating here.