Related papers: Palaeolithic extinctions and the Taurid Complex
Ejection of large boulder-like debris is a vigorous form of cometary activity that is unlikely induced by water ice out-gassing alone but rather associated with the sublimation of super-volatile ices. Though perceived on several comets,…
Comets likely formed in the outer regions of the protosolar nebula where they incorporated and preserved primitive presolar materials, volatiles resident in the outer disk, and more refractory materials from throughout the disk. The return…
In June 2019 the Earth will approach within 5{\deg} mean anomaly of the centre of the Taurid resonant swarm, its closest post-perihelion encounter with Earth since 1975. This will be the best viewing geometry to detect and place limits on…
An examination of the positions and redshifts of the compact, QSO-like objects reported near the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068 has revealed many relationships that suggest strongly that the objects have been ejected from the galaxy. Although…
Despite tremendous interest in the topic and decades of research, the origins of the major losses of biodiversity in the history of life on Earth remain elusive. A variety of possible causes for these mass-extinction events have been…
Pair annihilation of heavy stable particles that occurs in the early universe is reconsidered including the off-shell effect not properly taken into account by the conventional Boltzmann equation approach. Our new calculation of the time…
The population of Earth-impacting meteoroids and its size-dependent orbital elements are key to understanding the origin of meteorites and informing on planetary defence efforts. Outstanding questions include the role of collisions in…
In recent years, searches of archival X-ray data have revealed galaxies exhibiting nuclear quasi-periodic eruptions with periods of several hours. These are reminiscent of the tidal disruption of a star by a supermassive black hole, and the…
Comet 1P/Halley has the unique distinction of having a very comprehensive set of observational records for almost every perihelion passage from 240 B.C. This has helped to constrain theoretical models pertaining to its orbital evolution.…
A few of the major mass extinctions of paleontology have recently been found to consist of two distinct extinction peaks at higher resolution. A viable explanation for this remains elusive. In this paper it is shown that the recently…
Comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) reached perihelion at 0.33 au on 2025 October 8. Daily monitoring by the LCO Outbursting Objects Key Project revealed a major activity increase between November 2 and 4, accompanied by rapid changes in coma…
The complete sample of large-perihelion nearly-parabolic comets discovered during the period 1901-2010 is studied starting from their orbit determination. Next, an orbital evolution that includes three perihelion passages…
Remote investigations of the ancient solar system matter has been traditionally carried out through the observations of long-period (LP) comets that are less affected by solar irradiation than the short-period counterparts orbiting much…
Recently, a significant carbon-14 enhancement in the year 994 in tree rings has been found, suggesting an extremely large cosmic ray flux event during a short period. The origin of this particular cosmic ray event has not been confirmed,…
Several clues indicate that Titan's atmosphere has been depleted in methane during some period of its history, possibly as recently as 0.5-1 billion years ago. It could also happen in the future. Under these conditions, the atmosphere…
Meteoroids impacting the Earth on a daily basis are fragments of asteroids and comets. By studying fireballs produced during their disintegration in the atmosphere, we can gain information about their source regions and the properties of…
The solar system's Oort cloud can be perturbed by the Galactic tide and by individual passing stars. These perturbations can inject Oort cloud objects into the inner parts of the solar system, where they may be observed as the long-period…
Despite numerous mass extinctions in the Phanerozoic eon, the overall trend in biodiversity evolution was not blocked and the life has never been wiped out. Almost all possible catastrophic events (large igneous province, asteroid impact,…
Around the turn of the first Millennium AD, both in Christian polities such as the Byzantine Empire as well as in Buddhist communities such as in Heian Japan, expectations of an end of times emerged. Although based on different religious…
Migration of trans-Neptunian objects to the Earth is considered. Due to the gravitational influence of large trans-Neptunian objects and mutual collisions, some objects can get such orbits, from which they can be moved inside the Solar…