science

That's around the same time as Earth last passed through the central plane of the Milky Way.

https://www.bu.edu/articles/2024/the-solar-system-may-have-passed-through-interstellar-clouds/

One theory predicts that passing through a sufficiently dense cloud of interstellar gas would collapse our Sun's heliosphere, exposing Earth to cosmic rays & producing evidence that would be difficult to distinguish from a nearby supernova hitting our planet.

The cosmic ray theory is pretty wild - these muon particles can penetrate deep underground and even through ocean water, potentially causing DNA mutations at rates 20-30x higher than normal background radiation durng that period.

Super interesting presentation