We all know that the earth is a beautiful planet of life, the most primitive simple life was born 3.8 billion years ago. Although the life history of the earth is as long as 3.8 billion years ago, according to the research of scientists, the early primitive life was anaerobic, because at that time there was no oxygen on the earth or the oxygen content was very small, which could not meet the requirements of aerobic organisms. appear.
It wasn’t until 2 billion years ago that the earth’s oxygen content began to gradually increase, and life began to evolve from simple to complex. It was not until the Cambrian life explosion occurred 500 million years ago that a large number of complex life began to appear. Why did the earth’s oxygen only begin to appear or increase substantially 2 billion years ago? Before that, why didn’t the earth have more oxygen?
Scientists are still unable to give a definite answer to this question. Many people believe that the evolution of the earth’s ecology is closely related to the sun, and that the birth and evolution of life are also greatly affected by the sun. Perhaps the earth did not exist 2 billion years ago. What oxygen may have a certain relationship with the sun.
So apart from the sun, are there other factors that affect the emergence of oxygen on the earth? After researching and exploring massive black holes, some scientists have put forward a new conjecture, that is, the black hole in the center of the Milky Way may have a certain relationship with the emergence of oxygen on the earth and the evolution of life.
As for black holes, everyone knows that it was once the product of a conjecture under Einstein’s theory of relativity. Later, after continuous observation by scientists, they found evidence of the existence of black holes in the universe. Scientists are able to determine the existence of black holes mainly because they have observed a very powerful celestial body in the universe-quasars.
Quasars are an extremely bright light source in the universe. Even if they are tens of billions of light years away from the earth, we can still see the existence of quasars. As early as 1964, Marten Schmidt discovered the quasar, which is a very obvious elimination in the depths of the distant universe. In the mid-1960s, Yakov Zeldovic of the Soviet Union and Edwin Sarpit of the United States believed that this mysterious point light source was a supermassive black hole that was absorbing the gas of the host galaxy.
When the gas flows into the black hole, it produces a vortex similar to that of a sink drain. In the innermost stable circular orbit surrounding the black hole, the gas will flow at a speed close to the speed of light, and the turbulent viscosity between the gases will heat the gas due to friction, thus forming a bright accretion disk that surrounds the black hole. Around.
The mass of the black hole is surprisingly large, and any light entering the black hole cannot escape, so we cannot really observe the true body of the black hole. Only when the accretion disk produced by the black hole has a bright energy burst, can we know that there is a black hole there based on this characteristic. And those supermassive black holes often have very bright accretion disks, and it is difficult to truly hide their existence.
The accretion disk of a black hole is a part of the matter radiated outward after the black hole has swallowed various matter, accounting for about one-tenth of the rest mass. Even so, the brightness it produces may even exceed that of all stars in the galaxy where it is located. sum. In recent decades, Science Love has discovered that there is a supermassive black hole at the center of almost all galaxies. They usually remain silent and only erupt sporadically, each lasting for tens of millions of years.
There is also a supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Scientists named it Centauri A*. The mass is equivalent to 4 million suns. It is in a dormant state and emits weak radio waves. The current brightness of Centaur A* is only one billionth of what it was during its “feeding” period.
Although the Centaurus A* black hole is in a dormant state and looks very dim, because it is only 26,000 light-years away from the solar system, we can still observe some of its dazzling light through some clues. Observations found that there are a large number of young stars in the orbital plane of Centaurus A*, which is the best evidence that it has inhaled a large number of gas clouds during its recent “feeding”.
Through these observations, scientists believe that the large gas cloud accretion process that occurred in Centaurus A* may have occurred hundreds of times, and each large accretion process is the process of this black hole energy explosion. Each accretion process will disturb a large amount of gas and dust, causing surrounding stars to gradually approach the black hole, causing tidal splitting events.
When a large amount of debris is inhaled by Centauri A*, bright flares will appear, causing intense radiation to the surrounding Milky Way galaxy. So will the flares formed by the energy burst of Centaur A* affect the ecology and life of the earth? Theoretically speaking, it is necessary to know that flares will emit destructive XT rays and ultraviolet rays.
We all know that the sun will also burst out flares from time to time, and they will also have a certain impact on the ecological environment and life of the earth. If the flares erupt particularly violently, and the flares are directly on the earth, it will bring destruction to life on the earth. Sexual blow. The flares released by the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way are bound to be even more powerful, and the X-rays and ultraviolet rays produced will be even more terrifying.
Fortunately, the Earth is 26,000 light-years away from the center of the Milky Way, and the ultraviolet rays produced by the Centaurus A* burst are still safe for life on Earth. However, some scientists have pointed out that in the early stage of the birth of the sun, the solar system may be very close to the center of the Milky Way. If this is the case, the energy burst of Centauri A* will have a great impact on the earth.
Some scientists speculate that billions of years ago, the solar system was less than 26,000 light-years away from the center of the Milky Way. At that time, Centauri A* was in a very active stage, and the flares produced a large amount of ultraviolet rays that irradiated the earth. As a result, the earth’s atmosphere has been severely damaged, making it difficult for the earth to form oxygen.
It was not until 2 billion years ago that the solar system gradually moved away from the center of the Milky Way and reached its current position under the action of “gravitational reverse thrust”, and the ultraviolet rays produced by Centauri A* could not affect the earth, which made the earth’s atmosphere gradually thicker. With the protection of the thick atmosphere, life on the earth truly ushered in the spring, began to evolve rapidly, and cyanobacteria that can release oxygen appeared.
If this guess is correct, it means that the sun was exposed to SgrA*’s ultraviolet rays at close range, causing damage to the complex life of the early earth and continuing the evolution of life on the earth. If this is not the case, then the birth of mankind may be many years ahead of schedule, maybe now mankind has developed to the interstellar stage.
Of course, the above is only a guess of scientists. After all, we still know very little about the black hole in the center of the Milky Way. Whether the energy generated by its eruption during the active period will affect life on Earth is still uncertain. It is still necessary. We enter more research and exploration. If someone can clarify the relationship between SgrA* and life on earth, it may be possible to bring a Nobel Prize to researchers.
