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Author
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Topic: Earth doomed to fiery end - in 7.6bn years
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Mark B
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posted 02-22-2008 03:58 PM
   
Love this one, courtesy of news.com.au. Note the asteroid theory to save the Earth. At the rate humans are heating up the Earth and destroying the ecology themselves there will be no humans here in 7.6bn years anyway. Time will tell.  Cheers, M Earth doomed to fiery end - in 7.6bn years quote:
New calculations by University of Sussex astronomers predict the Earth will be burnt to a cinder then swallowed up by the sun in about 7.6 billion years.Emeritus reader in astronomy Professor Robert Smith and his team thought they calculated that we may escape destruction but new figures take into account the effect of drag caused by the sun's outer atmosphere. ... Professor Smith suggested future generations may extend the planet's life by using the gravitational effect of a close passing asteroid to "nudge" our orbit away from the encroaching sun. "It seems the energy requirements are just about possible and the technology could be developed over the next few centuries," he said. Such a solution doesn't come without risk. Miscalculate, and the asteroid may hit Earth.
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kosmonavtka
Member Posts: 170
From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted 02-27-2008 01:25 AM
We've only got about a billion years before the Earth's end begins: quote:
Life on Earth will have become rather uncomfortable before then, however.A billion years from now, as the Sun slowly expands, the oceans will evaporate, filling the atmosphere with water vapour (a potent greenhouse gas) and triggering runaway global warming.
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cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 02-27-2008 09:04 AM
 Global warming in a billion years time? I thought it was going on RIGHT NOW???  Chris. |
1202 Alarm
Member Posts: 436
From: Switzerland & France
Registered: Nov 2003
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posted 02-27-2008 09:39 AM
quote:
Originally posted by kosmonavtka:
We've only got about a billion years before the Earth's end begins
The problem is not when the Earth's end begins. The problem is life's end on it. |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 02-27-2008 10:41 AM
What/which/who's life?  And to quote Metallica - I know, I know,  "you've been dying since the day you were born". That ought to cheer you up! Chris. |
LCDR Scott Schneeweis
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posted 02-27-2008 10:51 AM
quote:
Originally posted by kosmonavtka:
We've only got about a billion years before the Earth's end begins
Why does the SNL sketch Debbie Downer come to mind??! |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 02-27-2008 10:55 AM
quote:
Originally posted by cspg:
What/which/who's life?
I suspect there may still be life on the earth in a billion years, but it won't be human life. Even assuming humans manage to divert disaster of their own doing, it will be hard to simply put a halt to the evolution of the species...or other species we depend on. Look at the last 500 million years for evidence on how far evolution has shaped life on the planet...going from invertibrate species in shallow seas to intelligent land mammals that can be placed in a primitive space capsule. There is no reason to believe that evolution over the next 500 million years won't result in another incredible shift of life forms. Humans will probably develop the technology to stick around a bit longer than nature would have otherwise allowed, but evolution (or extinction) is probably inescapable in the long (or short) haul. |
Aztecdoug
Member Posts: 1405
From: Huntington Beach
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 02-27-2008 12:40 PM
Well, maybe we just need to go out and buy some more carbon credits.------------------
Kind Regards Douglas Henry Enjoy yourself and have fun.... it is only a hobby!
http://home.earthlink.net/~aztecdoug/ |
MCroft04
Member Posts: 1634
From: Smithfield, Me, USA
Registered: Mar 2005
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posted 02-27-2008 06:32 PM
The earth's climate has been favorable for life for the past 3 1/2 billion years, with little variation (not enough to stop life from thriving). The conundrum is that our sun, as a typical star, should have increased it's energy output by ~30% during this time, which should have snuffed out life a long time ago unless the old earth adapted. There is no guarantee that life will be much different in a billion years. How it adapts, or will it continue to adapt I don't know but I do believe that the exploration of outer space may hold an answer to this puzzle, so we must continue to study the heavens. |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 02-28-2008 12:45 AM
quote:
Originally posted by mjanovec:
Humans will probably develop the technology to stick around a bit longer than nature would have otherwise allowed, but evolution (or extinction) is probably inescapable in the long (or short) haul.
Who knows? For a fascinating discussion on this, read Chapter 3 from Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight (NASA SP-4702). A must read. Chris. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 03-05-2008 12:42 PM
Much earlier, a huge cloud of Hydrogen, known as Smith's cloud, will crash into our Milky Way as it's zooming towards us at 250 kilometers per second. The 11000 light year long cloud will hit the Milky Way (our Galaxy) in about 30 million years.So way earlier than M31, another spiral galaxy which will hit our Galaxy in 4 billion years time. |
LCDR Scott Schneeweis
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posted 03-05-2008 03:12 PM
My turn to play "DEBBIE DOWNER" with something much more imminent... how bout the possibility of annihilation from a Gamma Ray Burst. |
kosmonavtka
Member Posts: 170
From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted 03-05-2008 09:12 PM
A quote from some newspaper article a few years ago: quote:
Even humans are not immune from extinction. Using the standard assumptions about the statistics of populations, J. Richard Gott, an American scientist, has calculated that there is a 95% chance that humanity will become extinct somewhere between 5100 and 7.8 million years from now.
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cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 03-18-2008 10:46 AM
7.6bn years is a long time. 1,000 centuries sounds "more reasonable" - if we can make it to the 22nd century...Here's a book that fits this topic: Surviving 1000 Centuries: Can We Do It?
by Roger-Maurice Bonnet, Lodewyk Woltjer
Hardcover, Praxis (August 2008), ISBN-13: 978-0387746333. Available for pre-order at Amazon. Chris. |
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