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6 ASTRONOMY • APRIL 2018

BY DAVID J. EICHER

FROM THE EDITOR

Editor David J. Eicher

Art Director LuAnn Williams Belter

EDITORIAL

Managing Editor Kathi Kube

Senior Editors Michael E. Bakich, Richard Talcott

Associate Editors Alison Klesman, Jake Parks

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Editorial Assistant Amber Jorgenson

ART

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Reynolds, Sheldon Reynolds, Erika Rix, Raymond Shubinski

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Hartmann, Paul Hodge, Edward Kolb, Stephen P. Maran, Brian

May, S. Alan Stern, James Trefil

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M

ost people on

Earth wake up

and go through

their day with-

out giving the

universe around them a

thought. But you can’t

escape the fact that Earth

and our solar system lie

within a big galaxy, and the

galaxy within a big cosmos

— and that our planet can be

affected by numerous things.

We now know that the more

fragile life on Earth, like us,

will cease to exist within a

billion years due to the Sun’s

increasing energy output.

But other factors can

dramatically affect life on

Earth on much shorter tim-

escales. This issue contains

two unusual stories for

Astronomy, each conveying a

sense of this danger. New

York University biologist

Michael Rampino describes

the potential connection

between dark matter and

Earth. Michael is one of the

world’s leading experts on

extinction events, and he and

his collaborators have found

craters and extinctions that

seem to correlate with a

26 million-year cycle.

Where could such impacts

come from? They seem to

line up with the solar sys-

tem’s 30 million-year period

of passing through the mid-

plane of the Milky Way’s

bright disk, as we bob up and

down during our orbit

around the galactic center.

Michael’s story explores the

intriguing possibility that

dark matter could jostle the

Oort Cloud of comets, nudg-

ing space rocks and cometary

nuclei inward to create these

periodic collisions on Earth.

It’s an amazing possibility.

University of Kansas

astronomy professor Adrian

Melott also serves up a dose

of reality when he shows us

the relationship between

supernovae and human evo-

lution. A nearby exploding

star could change life on

Earth in new and novel ways,

according to the latest

research. Bright blue light,

cosmic rays, cascades of

lightning, and other effects

could really change the globe.

It’s an intriguing explora-

tion of potential cosmic dan-

gers in this month’s issue.

On another note, I want to

introduce two new staff

members. Associate Editor

Jake Parks joins us from the

Department of Astronomy at

the University of Wisconsin-

Madison. Jake graduated

with a bachelor’s degree in

astronomy and physics from

The Ohio State University

and worked in the health

care industry for a time. His

passion for astronomy drew

him back to school to study

science journalism, leading

to a master’s degree and his

involvement in Madison.

Please also welcome our

new editorial assistant,

Amber Jorgenson. Before

joining Astronomy, Amber

investigated cases of fraud for

the Better Business Bureau of

Wisconsin. She obtained her

journalism degree from the

University of Wisconsin-

Milwaukee. She also worked

at the school’s newspaper, the

UWM Post, and interned at

Milwaukee Magazine.

Yo u r s t r u l y,

David J. Eicher

Editor

Cosmic threats

to life on Earth

Jake Parks

Amber Jorgenson

Follow the Dave’s Universe blog:

http://www.Astronomy.com/davesuniverse

Follow Dave Eicher on Twitter: @deicherstar

ASTRONOMY

: WILLIAM ZUBACK

ASTRONOMY

: WILLIAM ZUBACK