Effects of Gamma-Ray Burst on Solar System

[Strato Incendus]

Whether I actually let a gamma-ray burst hit the solar system in my sci-fi story or not, at least the looming threat of this event will shape the plot in major ways. Therefore, I need to accurately predict the effects of such an event on not only Earth itself, but also the rest of the solar system — to the extent that I depict it as colonised within my setting.

Starting with the sun itself:

Specifically, I was wondering if the sun being hit by a gamma-ray burst would make solar flares more likely. Both kind of rely on magnetic fields, after all. However, as far as I understand it, a gamma-ray burst merely maintains its “shape” over thousands of light-years, whereas the magnetic fields that created it only surround the star from which it originated, rather than accompanying the burst on its journey.

There’s also the question what the mere exposure to the sheer energy levels contained in a GRB would do to the sun.

The reason I’m asking this particular question is that I kind of need both the GRB and a solar flare to coincide at one point in my story, so that my interstellar ship both a) loses contact with Earth, due to technology being damaged on a massive scale and b) the ship crew has a reason to assume there might be few to no survivors left on Earth.

This would be the “dual armageddon” scenario some forum users have warned me against in the past — but it wouldn’t technically be a dual armageddon if both events are connected.

Thoughts? Am I just grasping at straws here?

 

[stefan r]

The Sun’s surface is at an extreme energy level. The corona even more so. Of course gamma rays or other radiation would effect any surface. The magnitude of those effects are trivial compared to what it does to cold objects.

The story line might make more sense if it is a supernova shock wave and a coronal mass ejection. People on Earth know that the shock wave is coming. This will push the solar wind down close to the Sun exposing Earth and cis-lunar space to Galactic wind. They send up magnetic field generators to slightly deflect the supernova material headed straight at Earth. They also plan to utilize turbulent ions to amplify additional magnetic fields and electrical gradients. The stations are flying toward the supernova source but need to be lined up correctly. “Correctly” is not exactly “straight” because both the solar wind and the supernova shock have to be accounted for. With this setup the CME can spoil the project. The magnets might still have some effect on the flow of particles but Earth is not in that shadow. The deflected ions just make it worse.

I am not good at magnetism. Deflecting high velocity particles by a few degrees or, better, less than a degree takes much less effort than stoping or reflecting the particles. The further away your deflector the smaller an angle it needs to make. With the magnetic field generators riding the solar wind out into the Kuiper belt the outermost units interact with the shock wave first. The unexpected CME leaves the Sun’s surface later.

 

[Strato Incendus]

Thanks a lot for your reply!

Indeed, the star I have in mind, WR 104, will likely create a hypernova when the stars it’s comprised of collide. This star system however is so far away that the nova itself will not be a threat to Earth (and will obviously also move more slowly than the gamma-ray burst, which travels at the speed of light). As long as I stick to established stars, I’m stuck with the problem (which is of course a good thing IRL) that there are no stars in sufficiently close proximity to Earth which could even go supernova one day to begin with.

Could your scenario also play out with the combination of a gamma-ray burst and a coronal mass ejection, rather than solar flare? I must admit I often think of solar flare vs. coronal mass ejection as very similar, while being all the more aware of the differences between supernovae and gamma-ray bursts.