Are Earth ice ages created by stars?

[transeo]

Are Earth ice ages created by stars?

It might sound preposterous, like astrology, to suggest that galactic events help determine when North America is or isn't buried under immense sheets of ice taller than skyscrapers.

But new research suggests that the coming and going of major ice ages might result partly from our solar system's passage through immense, snakelike clouds of exploding stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/234872_ice02.html

[supernova]

1. I can cause an Ice Age?!

:woohoo: :woohoo:

Worship me, peons!

[supernova]

6. Weyull, it's one explination why Ice Ages are so dammmnnn looooonnnggg

It would take a few thousand years to travel through all that debris.

edit: I really didn't mean to reply to myself. D'oh! :blush:

[salinen]

2. That's too complicated

for my tiny brain. And therefore further proves that the universe was created in 6 days.

[Celebration]

3. That is some science fair project!!

The latest evidence appears in a recent issue of Astrophysical Journal. The article is the result of an unusual collaboration between an astronomer, professor Douglas Gies of Georgia State University's Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy, and a 16-year-old student at Grady High School in Atlanta, John Helsel. They report the results of their effort to determine how the sun has moved through the galaxy over the last half-billion years.

By making a variety of assumptions about the rate of solar motion and the distribution of spiral arms in the galaxy -- which are difficult to map because galactic dust and foreground stars get in the way -- Gies and Helsel conclude that "the sun has traversed four spiral arms at times that appear to correspond well with long-duration cold periods on Earth."

"This," they continue, "supports the idea that extended exposure to the higher cosmic-ray flux associated with spiral arms can lead to increased cloud cover and long ice age epochs on Earth."

Gies and Helsel's article is the long-term result of a project that Helsel began working on "as a science fair project," Gies said. Gies, 50, is a neighbor of Helsel's.

[Beaver Tail]

7. After reading this itsjustme

I felt the same way. I have read before though a similar theory. What is presented is actually nothing new.

[Bill McBlueState]

4. Here's a link to their paper

Ice Age Epochs and the Sun's Path Through the Galaxy (PDF)

It's not a bad read.

[Beaver Tail]

5. It has also been Attributed to the tilt of the Earths axis

Earths Axis is not completely stable, the reason it is as stable as it is when compared to other planets is due to the size of our moon (very large for a planet of our size).

http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050330_earth_tilt.html

[Name removed]

8. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[crikkett]

9. kick! n/t

[SeanQuinn]

10. Interesting read. nt