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Solar system could go haywire before the Sun dies [Uh-oh!]
NewScientist.com ^ | 23 April 2008 | David Shiga

Posted on 04/23/2008 9:07:16 AM PDT by snarks_when_bored

Solar system could go haywire before the Sun dies

05:03 23 April 2008
NewScientist.com news service
David Shiga

How will life on Earth end? The answer, of course, is unknown, but two new studies suggest a collision with Mercury or Mars could doom life long before the Sun swells into a red giant and bakes the planet to a crisp in about 5 billion years.

The studies suggest that the solar system's planets will continue to orbit the Sun stably for at least 40 million years. But after that, they show there is a small but not insignificant chance that things could go terribly awry.

[snip]

A catastrophic collision with Mercury or Mars may be in Earth's future

A catastrophic collision with Mercury or Mars may be in Earth's future (Illustration: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

(Excerpt) Read more at space.newscientist.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: catastrophism; futureofsolarsystem; thisisgoingtosmart
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To: snarks_when_bored

I am sure we can prevent or at least delay this cataclysm. Perhaps by buying Mars derailing offsets or something?


21 posted on 04/23/2008 9:39:06 AM PDT by tubasonum (proud to be naturalized American)
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To: snarks_when_bored

I guess this problem is bigger than Y2K.


22 posted on 04/23/2008 9:39:20 AM PDT by 6SJ7
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To: snarks_when_bored
You're obviously not keeping up with the program...

That may be so, however, according to OwlGore, we only have about 9 more years before the earth is toast. That means that the coming ice age will only find a dead earth with no inbitants by the time it occurs!!

I'm starting to lay in supplies now . . . . . .

23 posted on 04/23/2008 9:42:07 AM PDT by DustyMoment (FloriDUH - proud inventors of pregnant/hanging chads and judicide!!)
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To: snarks_when_bored

So Mercury really is dangerous. Tell your dentist.


24 posted on 04/23/2008 9:52:34 AM PDT by Our man in washington
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To: snarks_when_bored

Bush’s fault!!! Only Al Gore can save us now.

Sorry. Had to be said.


25 posted on 04/23/2008 10:06:50 AM PDT by CCGuy (USAF (Ret.))
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NASA uses that cool graphic a lot I suppose...

Spitzer Sees the Aftermath of a Planetary Collision
Universe Today | Jan. 10, 2005 | Dolores Beasley and Gay Yee Hill
Posted on 01/13/2005 8:50:18 PM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1320521/posts


26 posted on 04/23/2008 10:20:07 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_____________________Profile updated Saturday, March 29, 2008)
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To: snarks_when_bored; 75thOVI; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; ...
"there is a small but not insignificant chance that things could go terribly awry."
 
Catastrophism
 
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic ·
Thanks snarks_when_bored.
27 posted on 04/23/2008 10:22:27 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_____________________Profile updated Saturday, March 29, 2008)
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To: snarks_when_bored
Small gravitational perturbations can produce really big orbit shifts over time. The solar system is a quasi-stable system at present, but it can become chaotic at pretty much any time...

I'll just bet that the Earth is not the only wobbly planet. In fact, I'll bet they ALL wobble. How much do they all wobble? A LOT! That's how much! We're in trouble, real big trouble. I for one cannot wait for democrats to be destroyed. They'll be sorry, then!

28 posted on 04/23/2008 1:15:50 PM PDT by Judith Anne (Don't just do something! Stand there!)
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To: Judith Anne
I'll just bet that the Earth is not the only wobbly planet. In fact, I'll bet they ALL wobble. How much do they all wobble? A LOT! That's how much! We're in trouble, real big trouble. I for one cannot wait for democrats to be destroyed. They'll be sorry, then!

I'm glad to see that, like me, you only focus on the really important stuff!

29 posted on 04/23/2008 3:09:22 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: ontap

“I guess i may as well get that double cheeseburger and banana split today.”

Well, I guess that I will take my Lipitor with a glass of whole milk tonight.


30 posted on 04/23/2008 4:02:02 PM PDT by brooklin
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To: snarks_when_bored
And if that's not bad enough, the Milky Way galaxy is on a collision course with, I believe, the Andromeda galaxy. So even if we move out of Sol's influence, we're still gonna be in for quite a ride down the road.

I'll be dust my then, so what do I care. :)

31 posted on 04/23/2008 4:34:26 PM PDT by AFreeBird
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To: AFreeBird

my = by


32 posted on 04/23/2008 4:39:55 PM PDT by AFreeBird
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To: AFreeBird

We gotta get off this rock, man... it’s a deathtrap.


33 posted on 04/23/2008 4:50:05 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
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To: Ramius
Rock? Hell son, we need to find a nice quiet galaxy somewhere where there's no predatory neighbor galaxies gunning for us.

Not that every thing is going to be destroyed when the Milky Way and Andromeda meet, but I'd just as soon watch the show from a distance if you know what I mean.

34 posted on 04/23/2008 5:00:37 PM PDT by AFreeBird
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To: The_Reader_David
Nothing. It’s just that a gravitational n-body system for n > 2 exhibits chaotic dynamics, and it’s possible that the system could move into a different part of the phase space just in the normal course of things.

That being said, it is also true that there often exist regions of phase space which remain dynamically inaccessible; I assume from the article that Earth-Mars collisions are within the regions which are accessible.

Full disclosure: Egad, I'd hate to have to code a full expression of the equations of motion for a 10-body system...plus asteroids (perturbation) *plus* minor relativistic effects on Mercury.

Cheers!

35 posted on 04/24/2008 4:35:13 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: AFreeBird
Not that every thing is going to be destroyed when the Milky Way and Andromeda meet, but I'd just as soon watch the show from a distance if you know what I mean.

Feh. Sell tickets.

Cheers!

36 posted on 04/24/2008 4:36:41 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: All

2 Peter 3

The Day of the Lord Is Coming

1 This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory.

2 I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.

3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.

4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”

5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water.

6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood.

7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.

8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.

9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.

11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live,

12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.

13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.

14 And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.

15 And remember, the Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him—

16 speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.

Peter’s Final Words

17 I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing.

18 Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.


37 posted on 04/24/2008 5:31:11 AM PDT by Ready2go (Isa 5:20 Destruction is certain for those who say that evil is good and good is evil;)
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