Posted on 02/26/2008 7:44:39 PM PST by Libloather
Hope dims that Earth will survive Sun's death
19:09 22 February 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Jason Palmer
The future looks bright for the Earth but not in the way wed hoped. The slim chance our planet will survive when the Sun begins its death throes has been ruled out.
In a few billion years, the Sun will fuse the last of its hydrogen into helium, turn into a red giant and expand to 250 times its current size. At first, the Suns loss of mass will loosen its gravitational pull on Earth, which will allow the planet to migrate to a wider orbit about 7.6 billion years from now.
This process has led some to speculate that the Earth might escape destruction but survival now seems impossible, says Peter Schröder of the University of Guanajuato in Mexico and Robert Smith of the University of Sussex in the UK.
They created the most detailed model to date of the Suns transition to a red giant, based on observations of six nearby red giant stars. Sure enough, they found that Earths orbit will widen at first. But Earth will also induce a tidal bulge on the Suns surface, with its own gravitational pull. The bulge will lag just behind the Earth in its orbit, slowing it down enough to drag it to a fiery demise.
There is one last hope for anybody still living on Earth, the researchers say. In the past, some have suggested that Earths orbit could be tweaked by arranging the fly-by of a nearby asteroid to tug at it. This method could potentially maintain Earths speed enough to keep it in a widening orbit, they say.
Journal reference: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13022.x)
(Excerpt) Read more at space.newscientist.com ...
The last place on earth to survive when the sun explodes
16 June 2007
Stephen Battersby
Magazine issue 2608
What is the last place on Earth? The very last place on Earth, ever? Here's a clue: wherever on the surface of the planet you are now sitting, it's around 6400 kilometres and 5 billion years away.
That date, more or less, is when the sun becomes a red giant. It will do so twice. First it will swell to about the size of Earth's orbit today. We are likely to escape being swallowed at that point, because the sun will have shed some of its mass, weakening its gravitational grip, so we will be orbiting somewhat farther out than today. Then after a few hundred million years, during which the sun will have briefly shrunk to a more sensible size, it will become a giant again, this time growing larger still.
Its outer envelope of hot gas probably won't quite reach the Earth at first, but we are likely ...
http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19426083.000
Don’t worry Obama will save us.
I have a planetary teleporter, but the fee for use is rather high...
He will sit down with the Sun and open a dialogue to explore a way to bridge the gap in understanding...
We’ll just build a giant rocket engine about where Detroit used to be, turn on our portable heaters, and head Spaceship Earth out for a long trip to another solar system. ;)
Women and minorities hardest hit.
...and Bush’s fault.
The Meek shall inherit the Earth...
We Bold shall inherit the Stars!
D*MN Bush!
You must work for MCI.
The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth...
We Bold Shall Inhabit the Stars!
Where’s Carl Sagan when you need him?
But if Obama is elected and we’re destroyed by the Sun, then at least we’ll be united as a country. :-)
What temperature will the earth be during this? I'm under the impression that the earth is in the perfect orbit needed to maintain the range in temperature we have now. But it won't matter anyway, we will all be dead and the planet will be long gone from burning fossil fuels and creating 'global warming'.
We need to get Algore and his band of loopy enviros on this right away. Time is running out!
What are we doing stop Solar Warming?
“Well just build a giant rocket engine about where Detroit used to be, turn on our portable heaters, and head Spaceship Earth out for a long trip to another solar system.”
And do not make the mistake to bring the Muslims along, or you’ll get the same $hit all over again.
Bon voyage to all you travelers because I don’t think I that I’ll be joining you guys.
Please, whatever you do, buy a Prius.
Que sera sera.
When the sun goes out, global warming will be kinda cool (so to speak) - no?
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