Our big home, the solar system, has been around for several billion years. And most of the time of its existence, as far as the research data can judge, it remained practically unchanged. This does not mean at all that all this time it was "the same as it is now": the orbits of the planets, their distances from the Sun and their orbital periods changed slightly, but its composition and the order of the planets remained the same as billions of years ago …
In fact, the upcoming events will have little effect on the processes taking place in the vicinity of our Sun, however, if we consider their influence on our life, it will be very significant. And this, unfortunately, is an unpleasant fact, since mankind still does not have the ability, be that as it may, to influence these processes. What can happen in the solar system, and what consequences will it have for humanity?
The sun, being the gravitational center of our system, determines practically all the processes taking place in it. The orbits of the planets, their periods of revolution, their temperatures and other parameters entirely depend on the Sun and its activity. The Sun is a very stable star, located approximately in the middle of its life path, therefore, for a fairly long time of its existence, it has made our system just as stable: the planets are located in orbits corresponding to their masses and speeds. And everything would be fine if not for some nuances.
A serious problem that humanity can face is the meteorite hazard. The main “troublemaker” in the solar system is Jupiter. This giant planet has a huge mass, which leads to constant changes in the behavior of small planets (asteroids) and comets. Due to the gravity of Jupiter, their orbits are distorted, which in some cases leads to collisions of these objects with each other or such a change in their orbits that they fall on the Sun or Jupiter.
In the last 50 years alone, dozens of such phenomena have been observed by scientists. Naturally, they happened before, but we did not know about them simply because humanity did not have the necessary means to observe them. But we are interested in something else: in their movement towards these two huge sources of mass (the Sun and Jupiter), small planets can fly dangerously close to the Earth. Since the beginning of observations of asteroids, there have already been three cases of a dangerous approach to the Earth of celestial bodies capable of completely destroying life on our planet. And we cannot oppose anything to such a danger because, firstly, we do not have enough time for a timely response to these events, and, secondly, we do not have the means to prevent it.
Another dangerous cataclysm is a change in both the orbit of our planet and the tilt of its axis. The fact is that the ecosystem that has developed on Earth is primarily determined by these parameters. Changing any of them will lead to serious climate changes and it is not yet a fact that we will be able to survive in the new conditions. No, life on Earth will not be completely destroyed, however, it will be a little consolation for humanity if only cockroaches, ants and turtles remain on our planet … The reason for such phenomena may be, for example, the loss of the Moon by the Earth. It has long been known that every year the Moon moves away from our planet by 4 cm and, it seems, in a billion years it will amount to only thirty thousand kilometers. But we do not know if this deletion rate is increasing or decreasing and how other events in our system will affect it,capable of upsetting the delicate gravitational balance that exists today.
One of these events is the processes taking place with the planet Mercury. Let's start with the fact that astronomers, before the appearance of Einstein's theory of relativity, could not explain the motion of Mercury at all, using only Newton's laws. That is, Mercury is so close to the Sun that its behavior cannot be explained by classical physics. And already the calculations made in the first approximation have shown that relatively soon Mercury will come so close to the Sun that it will be captured by its gravity and will fall on it.
It would seem, well, what's the big deal? The mass of Mercury is very small, and its disappearance will in no way affect the stability of the other planets. However, it is not. Due to the tremendous rotation speed, Mercury has a sufficiently large moment of inertia, and when it disappears, this moment will be distributed to other planets. It will not hurt giants like Jupiter and Saturn, but what processes will occur on Earth is a big question. Perhaps a new grandiose movement of tectonic plates will begin and new continents will appear, and maybe everything will be even worse - the receipt of additional rotation energy by the Earth or the Moon will lead to their collision. And then the question of our survival will not be considered at all.
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Changes in the activity of the Sun are no less dangerous for people, which can be caused by reasons that earthlings may not even suspect. If the number of solar wind particles reaching the Earth increases by only 15%, its magnetosphere will not be able to withstand them, the ozone layer will collapse, and the level of radiation on our planet will increase by about a hundred times. This will lead to total oncological diseases, and, in fact, only those who can hide in special shelters will survive. And how long can they stay there without food and water?
There can be any number of reasons that can lead to an increase in solar radiation, from the collision of the Sun with a sufficiently large object to a natural increase in its activity, which humanity does not yet know about. After all, we have been studying the Sun for no more than 300 years.
What should humanity do in order to protect itself from possible cataclysms of a cosmic scale? The only option for the preservation of our species is the early colonization of all possible places in the solar system, where it is theoretically possible to create conditions for our life. Then, in case of any problems with the Earth, we will have a chance …