Unexplained mass extinctions on Earth In the study, the researchers provided no evidence that a supernova caused mass extinctions. Instead, the team hypothesized a stellar explosion may have been a ...

A research team linked nearby stellar explosions to at least one, possibly two, mass die-offs after calculating the supernova rate of stars closest to the sun in the past 1 billion years.

The team suggested a supernova may have stripped the ozone layer that shields the Earth from damaging radiation, resulting in a chain of events that could cause a mass extinction.

The team suggested a supernova may have stripped the ozone layer that shields the Earth from damaging radiation, resulting in a chain of events that could cause a mass extinction.

A supernova -- or multiple supernovas -- going off at a distance of ~65 light-years, however, would do the trick. A supernova pointed at us from that distance could bathe the planet in ozone ...