The best place and time to live in the Milky Way
R. Spinelli, G. Ghirlanda, F. Haardt, G. Ghisellini, G. Scuderi

TL;DR
This study evaluates the habitability of the Milky Way over cosmic time, identifying the safest regions and epochs for life considering disruptive astrophysical events like supernovae and gamma-ray bursts.
Contribution
It provides a comprehensive model linking transient astrophysical event rates to galactic evolution, pinpointing the safest zones and times for life in the Milky Way.
Findings
Outskirts of the Galaxy were safest until 6 billion years ago.
Regions 2-8 kpc from the center became safer in the last 4 billion years.
A long GRB likely caused the late Ordovician mass extinction.
Abstract
Counted among the most powerful cosmic events, supernovae (SNe) and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can be highly disruptive for life: Their radiation can be harmful for biota or induce extinction by removing most of the protective atmospheric ozone layer from terrestrial planets (TPs). Nearby high-energy transient astrophysical events have been proposed as possible triggers of mass extinctions on Earth. We assess the habitability of the Milky Way (MW) throughout its cosmic history against potentially disruptive astrophysical transients with the aim of identifying the safest places and epochs within our Galaxy. We also test the hypothesis that one long GRB played a leading role in the late Ordovician mass-extinction event (~445 Myr ago). We characterised the habitability of the MW throughout its cosmic history as a function of galactocentric distance of TPs. We estimated the dangerous effects…
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