10 dangerous cataclysms that can happen in the solar system

The boundless, majestic and beautiful space, as a rule, does not frighten us. He often seems serene and peaceful – a sort of focus of harmony – rather than something dangerous and deadly.

Since the invention of powerful telescopes, man has tirelessly examined distant galaxies and nebulae, trying to comprehend the secrets of the universe.

And the more carefully our scientists study space, the more clearly they understand how often various cataclysms occur there, covering truly vast spaces with their catastrophic consequences.

And although it seems that in the immediate vicinity of the solar system there seems to be nothing threatening (neither supernovae or neutron stars, nor black holes, nor unstable star systems, etc.), nevertheless, scientists believe that even in our cozy corner of the universe can happen (and soon enough) some very unpleasant events.

Here are just a few of them:

10 Mars can destroy Phobos

A long time ago, astronomers and planetary scientists established that Phobos, one of the two satellites of Mars (a huge and partially hollow cosmic “boulder”, which actually has a diameter of only 22 km) is gradually reducing its orbit, approaching Mars by 2 meters every 100 years.

And sooner or later, the gravity of the red planet will tear Phobos to pieces. According to the approximate calculations of scientists, this can happen within 40 million years, that is, it seems to be not soon …

One way or another, the debris of Phobos forms a ring around Mars, similar to the one that Saturn boasts. And over time, they will fall on its surface.

9. The moon will become a ring around the earth

The same pretty “decoration” in the form of a ring, in just some 5 billion years, our mother Earth can acquire. And this ring will be made of moonstone, in the truest sense.

And two important factors can be to blame for this: the gradual transformation of the Sun into a red giant, as well as the strong gravity (or “tidal force”) of our – at that time hardly already blue – planet.

If the Sun one day becomes unstable and grows into a red giant, then its fiery atmosphere will push the Moon towards the Earth. And the Earth’s gravity will turn our satellite into a pile of large-caliber space “rubble”, which will rotate around the planet, stretching into a ring with a diameter of about 37 thousand km (until it, too, one day falls on its surface).

8. The Milky Way will crash into the Andromeda galaxy

A whole billion years faster (that is, after 4 billion years) another event can happen, most likely also fatal for the Earth, an event: our own Milky Way will collide with a neighboring galaxy called Andromeda. (Hmm… Or maybe we should start looking for a new place right now, where we can quickly “move” for this occasion?)

At the moment, these two galaxies are rushing towards each other at a speed of more than 400 km / h (or 120 km / sec), and scientists have even come up with a name for what will turn out in the end – “Milcomeda”.

And by the way, the merging of stellar cosmic spirals in a strong “embrace” will last a whole billion years.

7. The solar system will be swallowed by a deadly cloud

By repeatedly running computer simulations of a wide variety of unpleasant situations in our immediate space environment, astronomers have discovered another danger: a giant gas and dust cloud moving towards the solar system and at that moment only four light years from Earth.

Thus, we have only a few millennia left before the moment when our entire native system is covered with a suffocating “cloud”.

Dust and gas can not only greatly “dilute” the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere, but even disrupt and disperse the heliosphere of the Sun (due to the huge total mass of the cloud).

6. Replay of the Carrington Event

On September 1, 1859, the most powerful (of the officially recorded) geomagnetic storm in history occurred.

It got its name from the British amateur astronomer Richard Carrington, who first noticed and described it. The consequences of this grandiose “solar storm” were, firstly, flashes of the northern lights throughout the globe, including the latitudes of the Caribbean (for example, over the American Rocky Mountains, aurora borealis blazed so brightly that gold miners thought it was morning and began to prepare breakfast) .

And secondly, throughout Europe and America, telegraph systems went out of order. Now imagine what can happen after the Sun “freaks out” once again in our time (it does this about once every 500 years, sometimes more often).

All of our power systems will burn out at once, their recovery may take several months.

During this time, uniform chaos will arise on Earth, because life without electricity in most countries has long been simply unthinkable. Losses (which will be felt for a long time) will definitely become multibillion.

5. “The Death Star”

A huge number of comets freely move around our solar system (if someone is not in the know).

This cluster, which forms a kind of giant “bubble”, is called the Oort cloud. And if one day any (even the smallest and most unprepossessing) star passes through it, then it will “throw out” a whole host of comets from it towards the Earth and other planets (decaying into giant asteroids on the fly), and this will be a bombardment worse than nuclear.

Scientists have already taken under observation several possible “death stars” that are really capable of ever passing through the Oort cloud: the orange dwarf HIP-85605 (it will enter the cluster of comets with a probability of 90% somewhere in 240 thousand years), the red dwarf Gliese 710 (in a million years) and 12 more stars (“will arrive” within 2 million years).

4. Dwarf “parasite”

Just a little over three thousand light-years away (very close by the standards of space) there is a binary T Compass system, where a star like our Sun and a white dwarf rotate nearby.

Moreover, this dwarf is a real parasite: it “systematically” sucks out gas saturated with hydrogen from its “partner”. Because of this, thermonuclear explosions occur every 20 years on the dwarf.

And one day, when he takes away from his neighbor and absorbs too much, the dwarf will turn into a supernova, that is, it will simply destroy itself.

And in doing so, such an amount of energy will be released that it will reach our solar system and “rip off” the ozone layer from the Earth.

Here is such a terrible tale about the “greedy gnome”. And it can come true in 10 million years (or maybe much earlier).

3. Mercury will collide with Venus

In principle, it has long been known that the planets gradually change their trajectory over time. This, of course, also applies to the planets of the solar system.

So, by simulating various scenarios that could happen in our immediate space environment, astronomers have found that in “just” a few billion years, Mercury’s orbit will expand to such an extent that it could easily cross and collide with Venus.

As a result, it will either be thrown towards the Sun, or (which is even more “unpleasant”) – towards the Earth’s orbit.

True, out of 2500 calculated scenarios, “only” 258 lead to such an outcome.

2. vacuum disaster

And here is, perhaps, the most fantastic (but the most beautiful in scientific terms) version of the death of the entire universe.

There is a simple experiment with water: if it is exceptionally pure (without the slightest impurities), then it does not freeze at sub-zero temperatures, that is, it remains in a supercooled, but liquid state. It is worth throwing an ice cube or any chip into it, as it freezes instantly.

From the point of view of some scientists, our Universe is also in some semblance of such a “supercooled state” (but only in relation to vacuum).

According to quantum physics, even in a complete vacuum there are particles of energy. What if somewhere in space there is a vacuum with a lower energy? What if it starts to expand at the speed of light? Then farewell to the Universe, and with it, of course, we, the people.

1. Wolf Rayet Star

Finally, another version of the cosmic apocalypse associated with a supernova.

The double spiral star WR 104 in the constellation Sagittarius has the potential to one day cause acid rain, global cooling and ozone depletion on Earth.

How? But something like this: the fact is that both of these stars, revolving around each other, are doomed to become supernovae in the next couple of hundred years (one of them is already very unstable).

And when this gigantic explosion does happen, then a powerful flash of gamma radiation will rush towards the solar system.

In just 1 minute, as much energy will escape into outer space as our Sun can produce in only 10 billion years. It will reach the Earth in 8 thousand years. And all – chaos and death …