The Earth Will Not Last Forever I think there are a lot more people interested in space and how it works than we know. It’s probably because space is incredibly fascinating to many of us. It is hard to picture an area that has no end, if this indeed is the case. Lately we have been hearing space may be curved which means if we were to start out in one place, eventually we would land up back there even though it felt like we were traveling ahead. One analogy might be when we walk on the earth. If we were to start out in one spot and walk in a straight line we would come back to the same spot. Obviously, this is because the earth is curved, sorry flat earth people. There are some strange things going on in space and we will probably discover a lot more when we really get out there. A year or two ago it was announced that many galaxies if not all seem to be linked by what look like vaporous structures. The amazing part of this is the distance these structures have to be to do this. Simply put galaxies are very far from each other. Recently it has been announced that there are unseen structures synchronizing at least some galaxies in their movements. One has to wonder how galaxies which are many thousands to many billions and even more light years away from each other can be synchronized at all. There is just so much we don’t know. We don’t know what caused these structures in the first place at to many scientists this is a complete puzzle. Even if we knew more about them, we probably would never figure out how they operated on such a tremendous distance scale. There are a lot of monsters out there in space. These monsters are just waiting to sink their teeth into us. One of the monsters is the gamma-ray explosion. You might think that if a star explodes it would be so far away from the earth that it could never do any damage to us. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there are explosions in space which could destroy our planet. It is believed some supernova explosions of stars can trigger a gamma-ray burst and when this happens it could be deadly and take out our ozone layer killing all life on earth. A candidate for this type of explosion exists in a star system called WR 104. Even though the distance has been estimated to be between 5,200 light years and 7500 light-years away, is considered to be too close for comfort. There are many other ways we could be destroyed. This could be one of the reasons why colonization onto distant planets will be necessary for the survival of the human race. Let’s talk about some of the other ways the earth could be destroyed. Rogue stars and rogue planets since their discovery have been considered a danger to our planet. The chances of them coming through our solar system and either hitting us or disrupting our orbit or the orbit of another heavenly body which would lead to our destruction is rare, very rare. No matter how rare the chances are of this happening, the chance does exist. A rogue star or planet is a heavenly body which has been knocked out of its orbit so hard it leaves its solar system and speeds through space. There was a time when we didn’t know about Rogue stars and planets but now we are beginning to think there may be many of them between galaxies. When we talk about explosions in space there are other types besides gamma-rays. There is the supernova itself. It is said if one was too close to us it could destroy us. Scientists have claimed the safe distance for us not to be affected by a supernova is about 50 light years. How many stars are there within this distance to earth? Scientists claim there are 133. I guess the big question is how many of the 133 are ready to go supernova? Here is the bad news, while we don’t know what stars will go supernova some scientists are saying we should really be 75 light years away from a supernova explosion. I don’t know who was correct but I do know at 75 light years there are a lot more stars. While I don’t know precisely how many more I do know if we go 60 light years out there are now 600 to 700 stars. The number increases dramatically the further out we get. We don’t have to be hit by a distant gamma-ray or Rogue star to be put into danger. We have one of the most dangerous things relatively near us and that is our sun. When we look at the distance from earth to the sun we realize it would be possible for a solar flare to reach us. Not only that but the sun puts out something called the solar wind which is a stream of particles and radiation. If it wasn’t for the earth’s magnetic field, we would be in a heck of a lot of trouble. The sun is due for a magnetic storm and once we get one our electronics will be in a lot of trouble. The biggest one was in 1859 and there wasn’t much there to harm but now with all our electronic devices we would really be in trouble if we were hit with one of the storms. Some believe if one of the storms hit us today it could drive us back to the Stone Age. One of the things scientists worry about most today in relation to destruction of the earth is an asteroid hitting us. We have all types of rocks swirling around us which make us very vulnerable. We have the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and further out the Kuiper belt. There are plenty of near big rocks just waiting to crash into us. Nature helps us out somewhat because Jupiter attracts a lot of these things due to its size, but it is inevitable some will hit the earth sooner or later unless we devise some way of protecting ourselves from them. This is what NASA has been working on with both improved detection and improved deflection. Most of us know earth’s days are numbered. It is just a matter of time, but in the scheme of things and in human terms probably it will be a very long time before it is destroyed. Until then we have plenty of time to colonize other worlds and step out into the universe and that way mankind will live forever.
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