00:00Back in the day, from 774 to 775, Earth got hit with a mega blast of radiation.
00:08This crazy burst of energy left its mark.
00:11Three rings from that year show way too high levels of radioactive stuff.
00:16But what exactly caused it?
00:19Scientists are inclined to think that the reason was a solar flare.
00:23Some folks think maybe a massive supernova caused the radiation blast.
00:28But astronomer Phil Plait says that if that had been the case,
00:32it would have had to be less than a thousand light years away and would have been crazy bright.
00:37But there's no record of that happening.
00:40No bright shiny death star in sight.
00:43After looking at the radioactive carbon and beryllium in tree rings,
00:47scientists ruled out a bunch of other possibilities.
00:50At first, they considered that it was a smash-up between neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole.
00:57These types of crashes produce a super quick blast of gamma rays without any light show,
01:03which lines up best with the evidence.
01:06But these kinds of collisions are super rare.
01:09Plait thinks it's kinda unlikely that this is the answer.
01:13He figures we should only see one of these events in our galaxy about once every million years.
01:19So having one just 1,200 years ago seems pretty wild.
01:23Scientists are seriously worried about these rare events.
01:26If one happened closer to Earth, it could seriously mess up life on our planet.
01:31Even if it was thousands of light years away,
01:34a similar event today could cause chaos with all the fancy electronic systems we've come to rely on.
01:40So it's a good thing those gamma ray bursts are so rare,
01:44because if they were more common, Earth might be in for a rough ride.
01:49You may think that if our planet could withstand mega radiation blasts,
01:53it can easily withstand something less frightening.
01:56Let's say grasshoppers.
01:58Sorry to say that, but it's not exactly true.
02:01Back in 1874, during a hot summer in Kansas, things took a strange turn.
02:08Grasshoppers, or should I say locusts, invaded the Great Plains like nobody's business.
02:14They came down like a storm, blanketing houses, trees, and even poor trains passing by.
02:20These bugs were on a mission to cause chaos.
02:24Farmers had to scramble to protect their wells and just about anything else worth saving.
02:30Locusts landed everywhere, wreaking havoc on everything in sight.
02:35Even poor sheep lost their wool.
02:37Locusts even stripped paint off wagons and handles off pitchforks.
02:42This is how destructive they were.
02:45Livestock tried to fight back by eating them, but there were just too many of these insects.
02:50That year, those critters caused about $200 million in crop damage.
02:55The locust invasion was so tough, even the U.S. Army stepped in to help.
03:00In the end, locusts began to disappear, sparing the plains from further devastation.
03:07Natural disasters can be even more unexpected than radiation blasts from space and locust invasions.
03:14Check this out.
03:15Back in June 2017, a reindeer herder up in northwest Siberia was minding their own business
03:21when they suddenly heard a crazy loud blast and saw smoke shooting up from the ground.
03:27If that happened to me, I'd need to change my pants. Sorry.
03:32Later on, they found this huge hole that was like 23 feet wide and nearly 65 feet deep
03:38and was surrounded by chunks of ice and dirt.
03:41It turned out that there were over 17 such black holes in the area.
03:46They were filled with peaty water and shrouded in mystery.
03:50Some folks thought those were sinkholes.
03:52Others were sure they were left by top-secret device tests or even a bunch of meteorites.
03:59Now, the latest idea is that these holes are actually craters caused by the Arctic warming up and melting the frozen ground.
04:06The theory states that as the ground thaws, gas pockets trapped beneath the surface burst through, creating such dramatic holes.
04:15Apparently, these eerie craters have been showing up in specific spots in Siberia
04:21where ancient geological faults have been leaking out hot natural gas for ages.
04:26Combine that with some leftover methane from old lake sediments,
04:30and you've got a recipe for some explosive surprises as the planet heats up.
04:36Not scared yet? Alright, maybe you're afraid of darkness, huh?
04:40If so, you wouldn't like it back in 536.
04:44It's the year when the world went through a crazy 18-month period of darkness.
04:50A mysterious fog covered Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia, blocking out the sun and causing chaos.
04:58It was like the Dark Ages, but for real.
05:01It turns out that the main culprit behind this fog was a volcanic eruption in Iceland.
05:07This eruption spread ash across the northern hemisphere, causing temperatures to drop and crops to fail.
05:14People were freezing and starving. It was a mess.
05:19Historians from back in the day even talked about how weird it was.
05:23The sun looked like the moon, summers were freezing cold, and even China had summer snow.
05:29It was all because of the volcanic ash blocking out the sun.
05:33And to make things even worse, this period of darkness sparked the beginning of the bubonic plague in 541.
05:42Talk about a rough time to be alive!
05:46Let's go back to Siberia real quick.
05:49Back in 1908, way out in the wilds of Siberia, an asteroid dropped for an unexpected visit.
05:56Today, we know it as the Tunguska asteroid, but it didn't get its name instantly.
06:02Local folks only caught a glimpse of the show.
06:05A bright fireball streaking across the sky, followed by a massive boom!
06:11Trees went flying, fires blazed, and animals weren't too happy about it either.
06:17But since the area was so remote, not many folks took notice.
06:22For almost two decades, nobody bothered to check out the Tunguska site.
06:27People had too much on their plates back then.
06:29But then, scientists finally made it out there and found evidence of the asteroid's shenanigans.
06:35Later, in expeditions, they found some spacey microparticles.
06:40Fast forward to now, and NASA has a whole planetary defense thing going on.
06:45They even sent a mission to test out asteroid-deflecting tech.
06:49Because who knows when the next cosmic rock will come knocking on our door, right?
06:54In the middle of the 19th century, there was one more epic solar storm called the Carrington event.
07:01It may not sound like a big deal to you, but it had pretty rough consequences.
07:06The next day after the storm, Earth was hit with this insane geomagnetic storm that threw telegraphs off the rails and brought auroras to the tropics.
07:16And it's the place where they normally never show up.
07:20Turns out, all this space weather madness started with weird stuff happening on the sun's surface, like sunspots.
07:27From these spots, solar flares and other crazy electromagnetic stuff can pop out and mess with our technology.
07:35Massive solar storms like this one can shoot out from the sun at speeds of up to 1,800 miles per second.
07:42They can contain billions of tons of solar material, complete with a sassy little magnetic field that loves to mess with Earth's magnetic field when they meet.
07:52Now, listen closely. We're getting close to the next solar maximum in 2025, so it's a good time to check out the history of the worst solar storms like the Carrington event and take notice.
08:05Imagine if a similar storm hit today. An internet apocalypse anyone?
08:10Businesses would be sent offline and we'd be facing some serious damages.
08:15Luckily, these mega solar storms don't happen very often.
08:19But, hey, space weather is tricky to predict, so who knows when the next one will hit?
08:26That's it for today. So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
08:32Or, if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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