This is the End: Outer Space Comets Could Destroy Humanity

© Photo : Rex FeaturesArtist's impression of asteroid hitting earth
Artist's impression of asteroid hitting earth - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Astronomers warn that a threat from outer space is more possible than expected, and the sudden end of humanity may be caused not by climate change or space rocks regularly sailing by the Earth, but by a random escapee from the huge distant space bodies orbiting in the Oort Cloud, far beyond Neptune, currently the most distant planet from our Sun.

This is an artist's impression of a rocky and water-rich asteroid - Sputnik International
Holiday Thrills: Giant Asteroid to Pass by Earth on Christmas Eve
Centaurs, massive space rocks orbiting on the outskirts of our Solar System, could be very hazardous to the Earth, a group of astronomers said Tuesday, as reported by Phys.org.

These space bodies, composed of ice and dust, and being up to some 50-100 kilometers wide, were discovered several decades ago. Astronomers state that centaurs should be counted as a greater threat than comets, as the "assessment of the extraterrestrial impact risk, based solely on near-Earth asteroid counts, underestimates its nature and magnitude."

Bill Napier, an astronomer from the University of Buckingham, said that scientists have been thoroughly analyzing the possibility of a collision between the Earth and asteroids for the last 30 years, and have included distant celestial bodies, including centaurs.

"If we are right, then these distant comets could be a serious hazard, and it's time to understand them better," Napier claimed.

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Alexander Gerst told RT how a trip to space can make people understand that our planet is very fragile and it needs protection. - Sputnik International
ESA Astronaut: Earth is so 'Fragile,' People Need to Protect Planet Better
The centaurs’ orbits, believed to be extremely unstable, cross inside the orbits of enormous gas giants like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, about once every 40,000-100,000 years. When it happens, scientists say, the planets’ powerful gravity fields can deflect the centaurs toward the Sun.

On their way to the Sun asteroids begin to fracture, ultimately turning into cometary debris which makes “impacts on our planet inevitable." Individual centaurs, they point out, can have an estimated mass higher than that of all the comets documented to date.

"The disintegration of such giant comets would produce intermittent but prolonged periods of bombardment lasting up to 100,000 years," researchers wrote in Astronomy and Geophysics, the journal of the Royal Astronomical Society.

This representation of Ceres' Occator Crater in false colors shows differences in the surface composition. - Sputnik International
New Clues in Mystery of Ceres' Bright Spots
If comet debris enters the Earth’s atmosphere, astronomers suggest, it would cause a heavy meteor shower and trigger dramatic climate change, threatening life on the planet.

"A centaur arrival carries the risk of injecting, into the atmosphere… a mass of dust and smoke comparable to that assumed in nuclear winter studies," scientists said.

Under that scenario, humanity would follow in the footsteps of dinosaurs, believed to have died out as a result of an asteroid strike. And despite that there is no proof that a collision is imminent, “its ranking among natural existential risks [for humanity] appears to be high," some astronomers suggested.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала