'Tiny chance' of planet collision

'Tiny chance' of planet collision

news.bbc.co.uk

Astronomers calculate there is a tiny chance that Mars or Venus could collide with Earth - though it would not happen for at least a billion years.

The finding comes from simulations to show how orbits of planets might evolve billions of years into the future.

But the calculated chances of such events occurring are tiny.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 11/6/2009 by Mirthful Me]

Wow, apparently everything goes to hell eventually huh? Is there maybe any far away planets that have a collision course with earth? Possibly NIBIRU?! :O

Its just kind of odd to think about the red planet causing worldwide destruction in the faraway future. Our great great grandkids will have to deal with this, amongst other things. Isnt it also a known fact that the sun will eventually explode? There just is nothing incredibly awesome thats supposed to happen in the future is there?
news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 6/11/2009 by ZyPHeR]

[edit on 11/6/2009 by Mirthful Me]

this thread has the potential to be big here on ATS,
but just to corect you, its implode not exlode.

Our sun will grow real big (red giant), can't remember if Earth will be in it's heliosphere (or whatever sphere it has) or not, but Earth will definitely fry... the History channel astrophysics guy, not Kaku, said in 4 billion years. I recently saw a demonstration that says some 7 billion years. After that, the sun shrinks into a white dwarf dwarf.

Java demo: janus.astro.umd.edu...

Something incredible? Well I'm rather certain we will be colonizing space long before our planet, hence our species, dies off. If not, then we are, or a few people are, juss effed up, imho.

This is pretty crazy, though. Hopefully we are smart enough to have found a way to circumvent some occasion such as this, by technology or at least getting off our planet. A billion years is a looong time to prepare.

I dont mind if this thread goes big or not to be honest. Flags are disabled anyway.... but its always good to share information.

Ooooo, good info shanerz, thanks!
Yeah, I think by the time that happens, we will have colonized space and will all live like the dudes on star wars in huge spaceships and have hyperdrive to get to other earthlike planets and whatnot.

EDIT: Just out of morbid curiosity... why are the flags turned off anyway?

[edit on 6/11/2009 by ZyPHeR]

Originally posted by ZyPHeR
I dont mind if this thread goes big or not to be honest.

Flags are disabled anyway.... but its always good to share information.

Flags aren't disabled...you can't flag your own thread anymore if that's what you mean. This is interesting...only a few million years off, but it is a human prediction, and if it's anything like our weather predictions then this will probably never happen.

Originally posted by ZyPHeR
Our great great grandkids will have to deal with this, amongst other things.

I love how the BBC gave it the softly-softly approach, saying the odds are very slim even after stating the billion year gap. As if anyone now would have any cause at all to panic about this. Fools.

But would the descendents be able to deal with that?! Though I guess in a billion years mankind will be very very different, if we're even still on this planet!

But the resultant debris field from the two colliding planets would likely be pulled together over another billion years and form a whole new planet, and the whole life cycle can start again. Oh wow. What if this is just the very beginning...

Everything, no matter how remotely far in the future, has an impact on the here and now... the space/time continuum. What if we've been here before?? And 2 planets did collide, creating a spinoff planet which we now call earth. Certain molecules, atoms or microbes survived deep underground and after everything was said and done they started to evolve creating life as we now know it and our last "earth" was completely obliterated, or hurled off into the infiniteness of space.

Its amazing to even think that we can anticipate what is possible to happen a few billion years from now. Thats mindblowing.

Star to you purehughness... imaginative thoughts and input.

tiny chance a billion years from now.

Now if that's not breaking news I don't know what is! ;-)

Lmao, well they JUST announced it... so I consider it breaking news, but whatever floats ya boat, you know?

Besides, we have to spend the next billion years preparing... might as well start today!
-Z-