文章基本信息

标题：The habitability of the Milky Way during the active phase of its central supermassive black hole
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作者：Amedeo Balbi ; Francesco Tombesi
期刊名称：Scientific Reports
电子版ISSN：2045-2322
出版年度：2017
卷号：7
期号：1
页码：16626
DOI：10.1038/s41598-017-16110-0
语种：English
出版社：Springer Nature
摘要：During the peak of their accretion phase, supermassive black holes in galactic cores are known to emit very high levels of ionizing radiation, becoming visible over intergalactic distances as quasars or active galactic nuclei (AGN). Here, we quantify the extent to which the activity of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), may have affected the habitability of Earth-like planets in our Galaxy. We focus on the amount of atmospheric loss and on the possible biological damage suffered by planets exposed to X-ray and extreme ultraviolet (XUV) radiation produced during the peak of the active phase of Sgr A*. We find that terrestrial planets could lose a total atmospheric mass comparable to that of present day Earth even at large distances (~1 kiloparsec) from the galactic center. Furthermore, we find that the direct biological damage caused by Sgr A* to surface life on planets not properly screened by an atmosphere was probably significant during the AGN phase, possibly hindering the development of complex life within a few kiloparsecs from the galactic center.