The starry sky on a warm summer night is an entertaining sight. We are used to thinking of space as something unknown and at the same time attractive, even alluring. In space, our planet will be saved, we will find friendly aliens, and we will also learn about natural wonders that could only be dreamed of. And yet, behind the flickering lights, there are dangerous phenomena that we, as a species, might not like to death. From burning balloons of gas to massive bursts of deadly radiation, space has many ways to destroy our civilization. The selection is made by Listverse.
Asteroid
Every day the Earth is pelted with dust and stones falling from space. Luckily for us, most of them burn up in the atmosphere. Unfortunately for the dinosaurs, every few million years, an asteroid the size of a small town falls on the planet.
66 million years ago, a 10-kilometer asteroid fell to Earth and created a 177-kilometer crater that wreaked havoc on our climate. He destroyed the species that roamed the Earth for over 170 million years.
Although the asteroid is unlikely to destroy the planet, NASA scientists believe that something longer than 2 kilometers could significantly affect the life of a civilization.
Take 4179 Toutatis, for example. This 5.4-kilometer-long asteroid often flies past a number of planets, including Earth. Although the probability of a collision with it is tiny, the asteroid's chaotic orbit makes the trajectory impossible to predict. The next close encounter with Earth will take place in 2069, so let's hope that NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office will work.
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Gamma ray burst
As the name suggests, gamma ray bursts are powerful bursts of lethal gamma rays. We are not sure of their origin, but we believe that they are born in the process of collisions of neutron stars or black holes.
Usually, the energy of a star is ejected in different forms. During the collision of neutron stars, two magnetic fields are added. These fields spew enormous amounts of energy into focused beams of gamma rays. The ejection is so powerful that its light for half the Universe from us can be seen from Earth.
How deadly are gamma ray bursts?
It depends on how far away you are from them and whether you are in the line of fire. Most gamma ray bursts are harmless by the time they reach us. But scientists believe that once every five million years, a gamma-ray burst could occur that would be powerful enough to harm Earth. It could end the ozone layer and end life on the planet.
Solar storm
Imagine that tomorrow you wake up and there is no electricity. And there is no way to get him back. All networks have been blown up and burned down, and it will take days, months and even years to restore them. While this scenario seems unlikely, it is quite possible.
A solar storm is an eruption on the surface of the Sun. It usually has no effect on the Earth. But sometimes the released magnetic energy is powerful enough to cover all distances from the Sun's magnetic field to ours. During this coronal mass ejection, strange events occur, most often electrical drops and shutdowns. In 1859, a powerful solar storm in Carrington hit wires and hit telephone operators, and even telegraph paper caught fire.
The damage was minor, but physicist Patricia Riff believes that today a similar storm would cause much more serious consequences, since the infrastructure of today is heavily tied to electricity. Entire continents could be plunged into darkness.
Collisions of galaxies
Not everything on this list is guaranteed to happen, but this point is for sure. The Andromeda Galaxy is racing through space at a speed of 110 kilometers per second. In four billion years, it will collide with our own Milky Way, leaving behind a trail of gas and stardust.
Some stars will be destroyed in a head-on collision. Others will be thrown out of their galaxies altogether. The merger of galaxies will destroy them and pull them back together, resulting in a new giant supermassive black hole in the center and an entirely new galaxy born.
Shift of magnetic fields
The molten core of the Earth generates a magnetic field - everyone knows that. This process plays an important role in the navigation of species and protects us from harmful radiation from the sun.
Every 200,000 to 300,000 years, the poles shift and the magnetic field changes. The North Pole will become South Pole. And since the last pole shift occurred 800,000 years ago, we are on the cusp of a new one.
Unfortunately for us, this shift will not be instantaneous. It will be extremely slow and will take 10,000 years to complete. During this time, the magnetic field will move around the planet, creating small magnetic fields throughout the Earth and weakening the overall strength of the large field.
This can damage our DNA. If the magnetic field disappears for good, the destruction will be catastrophic.
Alien invasion
What do we have on aliens? Spaceships in the Baltic Sea, personal cases of alien abductions and statements by former Canadian Defense Minister Paul Helier that there are at least four types of aliens living among us.
The debate about existence has not stopped from the very beginning. However, given that most suns have planetary systems at their side, they themselves unite into galaxies and there are about 200 billion galaxies in the Universe, it would be strange to believe that there is no one besides us.
Some of the world's best scientists, including Stephen Hawking, have argued that extraterrestrial life cannot but exist. In fact, over the past five years, we ourselves have tried very hard to get in touch. But Hawking warns of the dangers of sending signals to those whose intentions are completely unknown to us. “The civilization that will receive our message may be billions of years ahead and more powerful. They can see no more benefit in us than we see in bacteria."
If history has taught us anything, it is that less developed species are losing the war.
Expansion of the Sun
At the center of our solar system is an unusually small star. It is close enough to us so that the oceans do not freeze, but also far enough not to turn them into deserts and not boil.
Remarkably, this star is an ordinary yellow dwarf in the main phase of its life. During this stable phase, the hydrogen atoms in its core merge into helium atoms and produce solar radiation that warms and illuminates our planet.
Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. At 4.5 billion years old, our Sun has already burned up half of its hydrogen. When the fuel runs out, the core of the star will contract, and the outer layers will be pulled in under the influence of a powerful gravitational force. To stay stable, the sun's core will raise temperatures and expand the outer layers. Ultimately, the Sun will become a red giant, boil the oceans, fry humanity, and swallow the Earth.
Loss of the moon
The moon moves away from the Earth by 3.8 centimeters annually. Although it will be difficult to lose her forever, the question arises: what will happen if the moon disappears?
Imagine this: a giant asteroid, the destroyer of planets, does not hit the Earth, but the Moon. What happens next?
Obviously, under the influence of the gravitational attraction of the Earth, lunar dust will collect and form rings around the Earth (like Saturn). Meteorites will burst these rings, constantly showering debris on the Earth's surface and destroying everything in its path.
Losing the moon's gravitational pull will also have a negative impact on climate and weather. The tidal thrust of the Moon slows down the rotation of our planet. Without it, the days will be 10 hours longer and the Earth will move 60 degrees, wreaking havoc on the course of our seasons.
Falling stars
A "shooting star" is commonly referred to as a luminous trail of gas left by meteors burning in the atmosphere. But real shooting stars also exist. These are giant burning balls of gas that fly freely across the universe.
This happens when the speed of a star is high enough for it to leave the galaxy and wander around the Universe at a speed of tens of thousands of kilometers per second.
These giant balls of nuclear energy burn everything in their path and destroy the delicate balance of planetary orbits, next to which they pass. Fortunately for Earth, we've only found about a dozen of these super-fast stars.
The chances that one of them will fly to us in this gigantic universe are tiny. Of course, this will not prevent her from destroying us if she nevertheless decides to look into our solar system.
Goodbye hydrogen
As our universe ages, the space landscape will change. Like our sun, most of the stars in the universe slowly burn out their fuel and eventually turn into pure carbon.
Large stars will become supernovae, neutron stars, or even black holes, but even these will evaporate or transform to create small stars with the same fate.
Once all the free hydrogen is used up, there will be no more fuel to create new stars, and the universe will plunge into complete darkness. And it freezes - the temperature drops to absolute zero. In such conditions, life has no chance
Ilya Khel