Posted on 03/12/2008 7:08:46 PM PDT by LibWhacker
In the end, there won’t even be fragments.
If nature is left to its own devices, about 7.59 billion years from now Earth will be dragged from its orbit by an engorged red Sun and spiral to a rapid vaporous death. That is the forecast according to new calculations by a pair of astronomers, Klaus-Peter Schroeder of the University of Guanajuato in Mexico and Robert Connon Smith of the University of Sussex in England.
Their report, to be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, is the latest and gloomiest installment yet in a long-running debate about the ultimate fate of our planet. Only last year, the discovery of a giant planet orbiting the faint burned-out cinder of a star in Pegasus had suggested that Earth could survive the Sun’s death.
Dr. Smith called the new result “a touch depressing” in a series of e-mail messages. But “looked at another way,” he added, “it is an incentive to do something about finding ways to leave our planet and colonize other areas in the galaxy.”
As for sentimental attachment to any of the geographic features we might have come to know and love, Dr. Smith said, “I should add that the Himalayas are a passing thought anyway. They didn’t even exist until India smashed into Asia less than 60 million years ago — the blink of an eye compared with the billions of years we are discussing.”
While he does not expect the argument to end, Dr. Smith said in an e-mail message that, if anything, in the new calculations he and Dr. Schroeder had underestimated the forces that would be dragging the Earth down toward the Sun.
“So,” he said, “I would be surprised if anyone were able to rescue the Earth again in a future paper.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I think God has other plans for planet earth. According to Him, He will Himself destroy it and rebuild with a “new heavens and new earth.” The world’s wisdom is so phony! I laugh with God each time I read such foolishness.
It seems from here that the NY Times will be gone long before 7 Billion years.
Long before.
does anyone want to buy my carbon credits?
For a moment there I thought it said 7.59 Million
Talk about Global Warming!
The Old Gray Lady will die and go to hell by 2100 A.D., but the Catholic Church, under the mantel of Our Lady, will remain, as it has for 2000 years, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
WHEW!!!.....you and me both....
*sigh of relief*
;P
You are correct. We should ignore the wonder gift God has given us, our brian. We should not try to understand out environment better, we should ignore all attempts at gaining knowledge. In fact, we should stone those who try to seek knowledge that does not come directly from the Kora, errrrr bible.
I bet you're a barrel of laughs at cocktail parties.
Bush's fault!!!
Ah, nothing like bigotry and nose in the air elitism on a Wednesday night. Speaking of being a barrel of laughs, you sure do seem like a positive and happy person to be around.
The sky is fall, shouldn’t have quit smoking 20 years ago.
fall = falling
Women and minorities hardest hit.....
I thought that was kind of funny.
Were you were one of those that failed to see the humor in the plan to fill in the Grand Canyon with rubish from Los Angeles?
I bet you're a barrel of laughs at cocktail parties too.
They got it so precise. Not 7 billion or 8 billion, but 7.59 billion. That degree of precision itself is idiotic.
Be there or be square!
In 7 billion years, either the human race wil be long gone, or we will be able to easily move the Earth to another orbit
“If nature is left to its own devices?” Haha, like there’s anything that could possibly be done to prevent this from happening. All stars die. The sun is no exception.
I do not expect the Earth to last 7.5 billion years anyway. It’ll either be destroyed, or just become completely uninhabitable by that time. If humanity still exists, they’ll have moved on to other worlds.
I’ve got my suitcase packed.
Oh, big deal. In 7.5 billion years, we’ll either be extinct or living in the Pegasus Galaxy.
I’m selling Exxon Mobil short in 7.58 billion years.
Yes, but it is sad to realize how many have chosen death rather than life.
Unfortunately they'll be somewhere far less pleasant, and will miss the show entirely.
Wouldn't Earth either get baked or the Sun will expand so much the Earth is engulfed?
“There’s no point in acting all surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department in Alpha Centuri for fifty of your Earth years, so you’ve had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it’s far too late to start making a fuss about it now.”
Brians are quite a gift.
As the Earth careens toward the sun in 7.59Billion years....all that’s going to be left to burn will be....Jocelyn Wildenstein ‘Cat Woman’, cockroaches and twinkies....
“Wouldn’t Earth either get baked or the Sun will expand so much the Earth is engulfed?”
Actually, we will be frozen solid first.
Then boiled.
Then engulfed.
“Brians are quite a gift.”
Trying to prove it?
When has that ever happened in recorded history? We'll pass by a galactic hydrogen gas station at some point and just fill the Sun's gas tank back up. Or maybe we will figure out how to crack 2 helium atoms into 1.5 hydrogen atoms.
Here’s your opportunity to save the world.
Invest $1 in the Save the World from Solar Destruction Fund. Over 7 billion years, at a modest 3% interest, your $1 will grow to $1 followed by 45 million zeros, substantially more than a googol dollars (which is only 1 followed by 100 zeros). The administrator of your fund will take it out of the bank in the year 7,000,002,008, and then have plenty of resources and 590 million more years to save the world.
And then there are those O'Brians; "Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp, brave courageous and bold
Long live his fame and long live his glory,
And long may his story be told."
I’ll be damn lucky to live 7.59 years.
Thus, I do not care.
Well I guess that debunks OwlGore's earth in the balance meme once and for all. lol
As an aside, I wonder if these luminaries, can predict what the weather will be this coming 4th of July as I'm supposed to go to a really great bbq/party and would like to know if it will sunny or rainy?
7.59 as opposed to 7.58 or 7.6 BILLION years.
Must be nice to be so enlightened and so precise.
Sheesh!!!
OH NO, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!.
>>>I think God has other plans for planet earth. According to Him, He will Himself destroy it and rebuild with a “new heavens and new earth.” <<<
Nope. Read carefully:
“One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.” — Ecclesiastes 1:4
“Bless the LORD, O my soul . . . Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.” — Psalms 104:1-5
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” — John 3:17
Recall that Jesus baptized with both “Fire and the Holy Ghost”. If one assumes the earth will be “destroyed” by fire, then one must also assume that the Gospel’s definition of fire is the same as our current and common definition of fire. But that contradicts the Gospel’s definition of fire wherein Jesus baptizes with “Fire”.
I like long goodbye’s
That day when it comes will truely suck.
That day when it comes will truely suck.
That day when it comes will truely suck.
Had me really worried there for a moment.
I, at first, thought it said 7.59 million years.....Whew!
>>>7.59 as opposed to 7.58 or 7.6 BILLION years. Must be nice to be so enlightened and so precise.<<<
LOL! Reminds me of the time when the late Carl Sagan was on a call-in talk show where he had explained his theory of the future of our solar system, when a lady called in and asked, frantically, “When did you say the sun would expand and engulf the earth?”
Sagan replied, “In about 10 billion years.”
Relieved, the caller responded, “Thank God! I thought you said “10 million”.”
Think I’ll rent a storage space - that should keep my stuff safe ....
Not exaxctly breaking news. Astrophysicists have long maintained that our sun is almost halfway through its life cycle and that its end (red giant) stage will be the doom of the earth. This article could have (and probably was) written decades ago.
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