The 8th Century gamma burst

[notaclue]

About 774-774AD it seemed we were hit by a gamma radiation burst. They found carbon-14 and beryllium-10 in trees in Japan and North America. And there is even some in Ice fields dating back to that time.

Quote from BBC News

A gamma ray burst, the most powerful explosion known in the Universe, may have hit the Earth in the 8th Century.

In 2012 researchers found evidence that our planet had been struck by a blast of radiation during the Middle Ages, but there was debate over what kind of cosmic event could have caused this.

Now a study suggests it was the result of two black holes or neutron stars merging in our galaxy.

This collision would have hurled out vast amounts of energy.

The research is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21082617

It is a theory that it happened in the Milky Way area of the sky. If that happened today the satellites would have been taken down.

[JulianO]

Interesting stuff, thanks. There are two possible sources for gamma ray bursts, neutron stars merging being one, and huge supernovas (collapsars/hypernovas) being the other.

[notaclue]

Be even better if it could be found in the sky as to the cause of it. It might give people a moment of thought that their "new world of technology" can be brought about by mutual attraction of two collapsed suns producing neutron energy.