So far, our Milky Way Galaxy has only had close calls from gamma ray explosions so large, scientists have suggested, that if they occurred within our galaxy they could potentially trigger mass extinctions on Earth. In 2014, telescopes around the world pointed to our neighboring Andromeda galaxy (above) looking in all wavelengths of light to learn more about a gamma ray burst reported by NASA’s Swift satellite thought to be an explosion from the collision of two neutron stars–the dead cores of massive stars, with the mass of our Sun crushed into the size of a small city.
The Galaxy Report newsletter brings you twice-weekly news of space and science that has the capacity to provide clues to the mystery of our existence and add a much needed cosmic perspective in our current Anthropocene Epoch.
