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Astronomers Say Dying Sun Will Engulf Earth
iamlucky13 writes "A minor academic debate among astronomers is the final fate of the earth. As the sun ages and enters the red giant stage of its life, it will heat up, making the earth inhospitable. It will also expand, driven by helium fusion so that its outer layers reach past the earth's current orbit. Previously it had been believed that the sun would lose enough mass to allow earth to escape to a more distant orbit, lifeless but intact. However, new calculations, which take into account tidal forces and drag from mass shed by the sun, suggest that the earth will have sufficiently slowed in that time to be dragged down to its utter destruction in 7.6 billion years. "
This isn't news at all, in fact I haven't heard anyone say it would happen any other way. I think I have a "My First Picture Book of the Planets" that says the same thing.
Accelerate Earth to put it into a wider orbit. This will solve Global Warming and the Earth being swallowed all in one.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
In 7.6 bln years time frame there is a 99.9 probability of a massive object hitting Earth and melting the outermost solid shell.
It's certain that it will happen at least 9 times and 90% certain that it will happen 10 times? Or did you mean that there is a 99.9% probability or a .999 probability?
...humans will have destroyed it, and several others...
How in the Hell is this NEWS?! Astronomers have known about this for DECADES!
What's next? An article telling us gasoline is flammable?
Somebody please tag this noshitsherlock.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
In 7.6 bln years time frame there is a 99.9 probability of a massive object hitting Earth and melting the outermost solid shell.
Where do you get these numbers? They appear suspect. We've gone more than half-a-billion years with *no* impact strong enough to wipe out the primary phyla of animals. That would suggest that mega-impacts are not near as likely as you say.
True, we may be in for some nasty human-ending impacts though, but not necessarily "outer shell melting", at least not the entire shell.
Table-ized A.I.
We learnt this in science in the 80s. It's probably older news than that. So what if there is a new calculation, does 7 billion years away really matter?
Analytic & algebraic topology of locally Euclidean meterization of infinitely differentiable Riemmanian manifold
I thought the galaxy was going to be engulfed by a hydrogen cloud in 40 million years?
I have mod points. The reign of terror begins now.
If evolution is a myth, what chance does gravity have? It is also, after all, only a theory.
"Evil will always triumph over good, because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)
For empirical evidence, I'll note that one of us sounds like a pedantic nerd with a tweed fetish, while the other is currently modded at +5. Just saying.
Microsoft delenda est!