When is the End really?

[obscura]

It seems that we have just another 4.5b years to get off this rock and find another younger solar system before the sun gobbles us up. But hold on! Is it that soon or is it much sooner. At what point does all life cease on dear mother earth before that final climactic event? 1by, 2by, next week??? Be useful to get a heads up on this to spend up and take the library books back.

[Stephen]

I'd be more worried about a mass extinction asteroid event well before the Sun becomes an issue

[kenmyers]

I have it on good word from Mr Typical that the world will end when I next get a break from these clouds.

[brianw1]

Seems more likely that we will be the cause of our own end. Either through depleting the earth of finite resources or by nuclear war.

[Cath]

21st December 2012 - everyone knows this

[Black Knight]

From what I understand, the moon will take around a billion years to travel a further 10% away from the earth. And that could be enough to induce a significant wobble in the earths axis and create climatic change to have pretty catastrophic consequences for life on the planet. Asteroid impacts and gamma ray bursts not withstanding, of course . If we're talking about non man-made catastrophes, that is .

[obscura]

Whaaaat!!! I didn't know. 21/12/2012. Who says so? Was this in the coalition's manifesto?

More Westminster secrets coming out of the woodwork!!

[obscura]

If that wobble increased dramatically, wouldn't that be a very slow effect over that 1by causing life of some sorts to continue. Even if the earth tipped over, which it may have done before, would life become extinct?

[Cath]

I know they say the Earth could very easily become unstable if we didn't have the moon, but if that is the case how come both Mars and Venus have much the same tilt and length of day as the Earth, with no large moon to maintain wobble stability?

But yes, I go with either/both a large body hitting the Earth or a human made problem that will sort us out.

[Daniel-K]

im going with nuclear war

[Black Knight]

I know they say the Earth could very easily become unstable if we didn't have the moon, but if that is the case how come both Mars and Venus have much the same tilt and length of day as the Earth, with no large moon to maintain wobble stability?

But yes, I go with either/both a large body hitting the Earth or a human made problem that will sort us out.

Mars has a tilt of 25 degrees at the moment, but certainly hasn't always had. At times, its axis was tilted over nearly 90 degrees. Venus I don't know about.

[Cath]

Mars has a tilt of 25 degrees at the moment, but certainly hasn't always had. At times, its axis was tilted over nearly 90 degrees. Venus I don't know about.

oh I see. No wonder we haven't found any signs of life.

How did they work out that Mars has been tilted over like that?

[obscura]

But suppose, just suppose, all being equal, that man is not the cause of earth's destruction. We would be arrogant, we are arrogant, as a species to think that all life stops when man stops. Suppose that earth continues in its own sweet way until the sun dies.

There again, within a b years another intelligent species could evolve (I'm assuming man is intelligent)

[Black Knight]

oh I see. No wonder we haven't found any signs of life.

How did they work out that Mars has been tilted over like that?

I don't know whether that knowledge was gained through modelling or something else. I'd have to hand over to a planetary scientist on that one!

/passes the buck!

[Black Knight]

But suppose, just suppose, all being equal, that man is not the cause of earth's destruction. We would be arrogant, we are arrogant, as a species to think that all life stops when man stops. Suppose that earth continues in its own sweet way until the sun dies.

There again, within a b years another intelligent species could evolve (I'm assuming man is intelligent)

Life has managed to colonize all sorts of niches on earth. I believe it has been speculated that one mass extinction event (the Permian?) may have been caused by a gamma ray burst, and life came back after that. It is entirely possible that some form of life would survive, underground perhaps, even if it was only microbial. I suppose intelligence is another matter entirely!

[Atlas]

According to the Science Channel "Gliese-710" is a star heading our direction, and has an 80% chance of messing with the Oort Cloud by dislodging potential comets and such. They are anticipating about 1 million years until that occurence....so umm....ya.

[ObscuredbyClouds]

Looks like Man will be spoilt for choice in destruction then lol, if man doesnt end itself with nuclear war, or an asteroid doesnt hit, or the sun doesnt swallow us up in 4-6billion years. Is that the same timescale for the milkyway to collide with andromeda?

Whats stopping the sun from just going boom right now? Surley thats possible

Its like when you own a dog, great for years then one day it does something terrible.

[Black Knight]

Is that the same timescale for the milkyway to collide with andromeda?

I believe it is.

[ObscuredbyClouds]

Then that will obviosly one of the greatest firework shows ever - the sun engulfing and the collision with andromeda.

Interestin to saythe least

[obscura]

QUOTE " or an asteroid doesnt hit, or the sun doesnt swallow us up in 4-6billion years. Is that the same timescale for the milkyway to collide with andromeda?"

Cannot recall when M31 is due to collide but that may depend on it being a glancing blow on the far side of our galaxy or on this side head on. As for asteroids, I heard once that our governments have had a finger on the pulse of this - so no probs..........?????

My gut feel is that man is unlikely to destroy the planet. I recall living under the shadow in the post war years and the arms race. The world appears to be better at talking nowadays. But as I say, gut feel.

As an aside talking big bombs and the sun, why is it not possible to send nuclear waste into the sun. Other than a few spondulaks. It certainly ain't going to do any harm.

[Cath]

As an aside talking big bombs and the sun, why is it not possible to send nuclear waste into the sun. Other than a few spondulaks. It certainly ain't going to do any harm.

Cost and the risk of trying to get it all up into space in the first place. Many of our rockets have a tendency to not make it up into orbit.

Their is always an outcry everytime NASA lauch a rocket that has a small piece for powering our probes - incase the launch fails and scatters it about.

[rfdesigner]

QUOTE "As an aside talking big bombs and the sun, why is it not possible to send nuclear waste into the sun. Other than a few spondulaks. It certainly ain't going to do any harm.

Rocket Reliability.

How many shuttles were destroyed?

[ObscuredbyClouds]

As an aside talking big bombs and the sun, why is it not possible to send nuclear waste into the sun. Other than a few spondulaks. It certainly ain't going to do any harm.

Why?

To me you have answered a question on how man behaves

Send nuclear waste to the sun, to coin a phrase " dont poke the grizzly"

[ObscuredbyClouds]

Rocket Reliability.

How many shuttles were destroyed?

How do we know this isnt happening? Oh today on Moscow news rocket-X blows up after 1month of its trip to Saturn. They wont tell you its to dump nuclear waste would they?

But send it to the sun, Man isnt that daft lol

[Sykesy]

Very good book that I read in the local Library - The Life & Death of Planet Earth by Don Brownlee & Peter Ward. Went into great detail as to the likely events to our world as our dying sun gets bigger and bigger.