UPDATE:  SOLVED by Jeff at 12:11

BOO!  Ha!  Scared you, didn’t I?  Oh admit it… you’re shaking in your boots.

Happy Saturday everybody.  I hope your world is moving along as it should.  I’m behind again in my posts, but no worries.  I’ll catch up with myself eventually.

The riddles have been dealing with the “real world” for a while, and today is no exception.  Strap on your seat belt, because the answer to today’s riddle is one wild ride.

Image by Sam Spalding

Something happens.

When it happens, it’s intensely interesting…

…if you happen to be very, very far away from it.

NASA/Hubble image - oh quit whining... you've seen this before

Due to this event, something else is produced.

It’s even more interesting.

Again, if you happen to be very far away.

Image by J Dawson, this is exactly what it looks like

If we are too close, we will have no warning.

This is a modern discovery, made because we’re suspicious of our neighbors.

Fortunately, this is very rare.

Ew, nasty. This is smog. Yeah, it's related. Image found on PhotoBucket

We may have already suffered a brush with this thing.

Just once.

Some suspect it to have been the sole cause of one of the most massive extinction events.

Image by Marvin Cyder

There is no defense against this.

You don’t ever want to see this close up.

That said, it happens on Earth all the time.

Image found on PhotoBucket

Are you puzzled?  Good.  You know the answer to this, I know you do.  Don’t look at the clues and take the first obvious jump.  I’ll be lurking in the comments to see how you do.