The vast, majestic and beautiful cosmos, as a rule, does not scare us. It often seems serene and peaceful - a sort of center of harmony - rather than something dangerous and deadly.
Since man invented powerful telescopes, he tirelessly looks at distant galaxies and nebulae, trying to comprehend the secrets of the universe.
And the more thoroughly our scientists explore space, the more clearly they understand how often various cataclysms occur there, covering truly huge spaces with their catastrophic consequences.
And although it seems that in the immediate vicinity of the solar system there seems to be nothing threatening (neither supernova or neutron stars, nor black holes, nor unstable star systems, etc.), nevertheless, scientists believe that in our cozy a corner of the universe can happen (and soon enough) some very unpleasant events.
Here are just a few of them:
10. Mars can destroy Phobos
Quite a long time ago, astronomers and planetologists have established that Phobos - one of the two satellites of Mars (a huge and partially hollow space “boulder”, which actually has a diameter of only 22 km) - gradually reduces its orbit, approaching Mars by 2 meters every 100 years old.
And sooner or later, the gravity of the red planet will tear Phobos to pieces. According to approximate estimates of scientists, this can happen within 40 million years, that is, it seems, and not soon ...
One way or another, the debris of Phobos form a ring around Mars, similar to the one that Saturn can boast of. And over time, they will fall to its surface.
9. The moon will become a ring around the earth
In just 5 billion years, our mother Earth can also acquire the same pretty “decoration” in the form of a ring. And this little ring will be made of moonstone, in the most literal sense.
And two important factors can be blamed for this: the gradual transformation of the Sun into a red giant, as well as the strong gravity (or “tidal force”) of our - at that time hardly already blue - planet.
If the Sun one day becomes unstable and grows into a red giant, then its fiery atmosphere will push the Moon to the Earth. And terrestrial gravity will turn our satellite into a pile of large-caliber space “rubble”, which will revolve around the planet, stretching into a ring with a diameter of about 37 thousand km (until it also crumbles once upon its surface).
8. The Milky Way crashes into the Andromeda Galaxy
Another billion years faster (that is, after 4 billion years) another thing can happen, most likely also fatal for the Earth, an event: our native Milky Way will collide with a neighboring galaxy called Andromeda. (Hmm ... Or maybe we should start looking for a new place now, where we can quickly “move” on this occasion?)
At the moment, these two galaxies are rushing towards each other at a speed of more than 400 km / h (or 120 km / s), and scientists have already come up with a name for what will be the result - “Milkomed”.
And by the way, the merger of stellar cosmic spirals in a strong “embrace” will last a billion years.
7. The solar system will be consumed by a deadly cloud
Many times running on the computer simulated versions of a variety of unpleasant situations in our immediate cosmic environment, astronomers discovered yet another danger: a giant gas-dust cloud moving towards the solar system and located at that moment only four light-years from Earth.
Thus, we have only a few millennia left until the moment when our entire native system is covered with a suffocating “cloud”.
Dust and gas can not only “dilute” oxygen strongly in the Earth’s atmosphere, but even tear and scatter the solar heliosphere (due to the huge total mass of the cloud).
6. Replay of the Carrington event
On September 1, 1859, the most powerful (of the officially recorded) geomagnetic storm in history occurred.
She got her name by the name of the British amateur astronomer Richard Carrington, who noticed and described her first. The consequence of this grandiose “solar storm” was, firstly, the flashes of the northern lights all over the globe, including the latitudes of the Caribbean (for example, aurora borealis flashed so brightly over the American Rockies that gold diggers decided it was morning and started making breakfast) .
And secondly, telegraph systems have failed throughout Europe and America. Now imagine what can happen after the Sun “freaks out” once again in our time (it does this about once every 500 years, sometimes more often).
All of our energy systems will burn out at once, their restoration may take several months.
During this time, shaped chaos will occur on Earth, because without electricity in most countries, life has long been simply unthinkable. Losses (which will be felt for a long time) will definitely become multi-billion dollar.
5. "Death Star"
Around our solar system (if someone is not in the know), a huge number of comets move freely.
This cluster, forming a kind of giant “bubble”, is called the Oort cloud. And if once any (even the smallest and most ordinary-looking) star passes through it, then it will “throw out” a host of comets from it towards the Earth and other planets (on the fly decaying into giant asteroids), and this will be a terrible nuclear bombardment.
Scientists have already taken under observation several possible “death stars” that are actually capable of someday passing through the Oort cloud: the orange dwarf HIP-85605 (it will enter the cluster of comets with a 90% probability somewhere in 240 thousand years), the red dwarf Gliese 710 (in a million years) and another 12 stars (“will arrive” within 2 million years).
4. Dwarf- "parasite"
In all, some three and a few thousand light-years from us (very close by the standards of space) there is a double T Compass system where a star like our Sun and a white dwarf rotate nearby.
Moreover, this dwarf is a real parasite: it “systematically” sucks out gas saturated with hydrogen from its “partner”. Because of this, fusion explosions occur on a dwarf every 20 years.
And once, when he takes away from his neighbor and absorbs too much, the dwarf will turn into a supernova, that is, it will simply self-destruct.
And at the same time, such an amount of energy is released that it reaches our solar system and “tears” the ozone layer from the Earth.
Here is such a terrible tale about the “greedy gnome”. And it can come true in 10 million years (and maybe much earlier).
3. Mercury will collide with Venus
In principle, it has long been known that planets gradually change their trajectory over time. This, of course, applies to the planets of the solar system.
So, simulating various scenarios that can occur in our nearest cosmic environment, astronomers have found that “in just a few billion years, the orbit of Mercury will expand to such an extent that it can easily intersect and collide with Venus.
As a result, it will either be thrown towards the Sun, or (which is even more “unpleasant”) towards the Earth’s orbit.
True, out of 2,500 calculated scenarios, “only” 258 lead to this outcome.
2. Vacuum disaster
And here, perhaps, is the most fantastic (but the most beautiful scientifically) version of the death of the entire Universe.
There is a simple experiment with water: if it is exceptionally pure (without the slightest impurities), then it does not freeze at sub-zero temperatures, that is, it remains in a supercooled but liquid state. It is worth throwing an ice cube into it or any sliver, as it freezes instantly.
From the point of view of some scientists, our Universe is also in a kind of such a “supercooled state” (but only in relation to vacuum).
According to quantum physics, even in a complete vacuum, there are particles of energy. What if somewhere in space there is a vacuum with a lower energy? And if it begins to expand at the speed of light? Then farewell to the Universe, and with it, of course, we are people.
1. Wolf-Rayet Star
Finally, another version of the cosmic apocalypse associated with a supernova.
The double spiral star WR 104 in the constellation Sagittarius is potentially capable of once causing acid rain, global cooling and the destruction of the ozone layer on Earth.
How? But something like this: the fact is that both of these stars, rotating around each other, are doomed to become supernovae in the next couple of hundred years (one of them is already very unstable now).
And when this gigantic explosion does happen, a powerful flash of gamma radiation will rush towards the solar system.
In just 1 minute, as much energy will escape into outer space as our Sun can produce in only 10 billion years. It will reach the Earth in 8 thousand years. And all - chaos and death ...