We're All Going To Die.
Discussion
beano500 said:
I wondered what my mother was rabbiting on about.
Is your mother this mysterious "Missus A" they keep on about???
I'm sure she'd be happy to be quoted. I think she is the Daily Wails target audience, she thought that "The Day After Tomorrow" was based on fact! Hey but she's my Mum what are you gonna do.
) 
Going slightly off topic...
here are some signs that scientists of the future will want to look for.
When the Milky Way begins to fly apart, there are 60 million years left.
Planets in our solar system will start to wing away from the Sun three months before the end of time.
When Earth explodes, the end is momentarily near.
At this point, there is still a short interval before atoms and even their nuclei break apart. "There's about 30 minutes left," a scientist said, "But it's not quality time."
But we all be dead long before then though. Just as sure as the Sun comes up every morning, it is scheduled to die. Experts give it some 7 billion years, when it will turn into a bloated red giant. As the name implies, a red giant is a star swelled to gargantuan proportions. Earth would be first engulfed in heat and light, then vaporized.
Well before then, things will turn real nasty. In just a billion years, the Sun could be 11-percent brighter, scientists say, rendering Earth an inhospitable greenhouse. In 3.5 billion years, the Sun could be 40-percent brighter than it is today.
So scientists began to discuss/consider how human intervention might bring about a more suitable long-term orbit, one that gradually expands with the aging Sun, with existing technology, some advance planning and a little orbital energy, courtesy of a redirected asteroid, Earth's distance from the Sun could be increased by 50 percent in just a few billion years.
Here's what you do:
Using humans or robotic spacecraft, attach retrorockets -- like those that maneuver spacecraft -- to the rock. Alter its course of so that it passes near Earth. The planet then steals some of the space rock's orbital energy and uses it to move into an orbit slightly farther from the Sun. Send the comet or asteroid back out around Jupiter and Saturn, where it will regain orbital energy by robbing it from the giant planets. Make the rock continue on a long, elliptical orbit that goes way the heck out there -- 325 times the distance from Earth to the Sun.
Bring the rock back around Earth every 6,000 years or so, and each time the planet will creep outward a few more miles. The goal: An ultimate retreat of several million miles (kilometers).
But it does require some precise planning and execution, and there are some possible side effects.
For one, we might inadvertently lose our Moon. And Mars might eventually have to move over, too, in order to make room for our escape. Finally, the scheme would bring a potentially dangerous space rock to within a cosmic whisker of Earth on each pass -- just 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers). That's a close shave that could even make the hair on Bruce Willis' bald head stand up."
So there you go, we only have about a billion years left, unless we don't start to get our act together, and move earth out of orbit I for one, would certainly wouldn't want to put Bush or Blair in charge of this We would more than likely end up with Ken Livingstone wanting to enforce congestion charging for comets entering earth space If we are all doomed, then this all the more reason to go buy that dream car right now
Sorry to be so glum. Regards John
PS - If you're building or restoring a car, you'd better hurry up, only another 999,999,999 years to go !!
here are some signs that scientists of the future will want to look for.
When the Milky Way begins to fly apart, there are 60 million years left.
Planets in our solar system will start to wing away from the Sun three months before the end of time.
When Earth explodes, the end is momentarily near.
At this point, there is still a short interval before atoms and even their nuclei break apart. "There's about 30 minutes left," a scientist said, "But it's not quality time."
But we all be dead long before then though. Just as sure as the Sun comes up every morning, it is scheduled to die. Experts give it some 7 billion years, when it will turn into a bloated red giant. As the name implies, a red giant is a star swelled to gargantuan proportions. Earth would be first engulfed in heat and light, then vaporized.
Well before then, things will turn real nasty. In just a billion years, the Sun could be 11-percent brighter, scientists say, rendering Earth an inhospitable greenhouse. In 3.5 billion years, the Sun could be 40-percent brighter than it is today.
So scientists began to discuss/consider how human intervention might bring about a more suitable long-term orbit, one that gradually expands with the aging Sun, with existing technology, some advance planning and a little orbital energy, courtesy of a redirected asteroid, Earth's distance from the Sun could be increased by 50 percent in just a few billion years.
Here's what you do:
Using humans or robotic spacecraft, attach retrorockets -- like those that maneuver spacecraft -- to the rock. Alter its course of so that it passes near Earth. The planet then steals some of the space rock's orbital energy and uses it to move into an orbit slightly farther from the Sun. Send the comet or asteroid back out around Jupiter and Saturn, where it will regain orbital energy by robbing it from the giant planets. Make the rock continue on a long, elliptical orbit that goes way the heck out there -- 325 times the distance from Earth to the Sun.
Bring the rock back around Earth every 6,000 years or so, and each time the planet will creep outward a few more miles. The goal: An ultimate retreat of several million miles (kilometers).
But it does require some precise planning and execution, and there are some possible side effects.
For one, we might inadvertently lose our Moon. And Mars might eventually have to move over, too, in order to make room for our escape. Finally, the scheme would bring a potentially dangerous space rock to within a cosmic whisker of Earth on each pass -- just 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers). That's a close shave that could even make the hair on Bruce Willis' bald head stand up."
So there you go, we only have about a billion years left, unless we don't start to get our act together, and move earth out of orbit I for one, would certainly wouldn't want to put Bush or Blair in charge of this We would more than likely end up with Ken Livingstone wanting to enforce congestion charging for comets entering earth space If we are all doomed, then this all the more reason to go buy that dream car right now
Sorry to be so glum. Regards John
PS - If you're building or restoring a car, you'd better hurry up, only another 999,999,999 years to go !!
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