Re:Atmosphere? What atmosphere? (Score 1)

Ummm.. Mars has an atmosphere. A very thin one, but it does have one.. A Gamma Ray burst doesn't necessarily happen during a nova/supernova. This is a binary system, and just the odd gravitational forces acting on both stars can cause a build up of energy that is released in a burst. This burst, if timed just right could pass through the earths orbital plane. If this were to happen, The radiation(Gamma) would kill much of the life on the planet. At the same time, the atmosphere would be severely damaged as well. Like the article says, the Ozone layer could be stripped off. If that happened, even more radiation(Ultra Violet) would make it through the atmosphere. This would kill even more life, including much of the plant life leaving a lot of dead decaying matter, and the significant heat increase that would occur would cause winds and other catastrophic weather anomalies. This would cloud the remaining atmosphere causing a very significant cool down.