Some things from outer space can wipe out humanity in just a matter of seconds!
If we stop for a second and ask ourselves a question regarding humanity, what would be the main threat to us? I guess a nuclear bomb or a large-scale pandemic would be even worse than COVID-19 was. Now let’s pretend we can somehow “defeat” these man-made threats, but the question that pops into our heads is: “Are we really safe?”
Until you realize what lurks in space, living in our small, blue world feels safe, but the human race might be seriously imperiled or possibly wiped out by the cosmic calamities listed below.
1. Moving stars
We definitely live in weird times! In a world where you can have a conversation with an AI and it can reply to you in real-time, but we can’t stop things from outer space from wiping out the entire globe, it makes us realize we are so small. And despite all the greatest inventions and technologies we have developed over the centuries, we are still powerless in front of the universe.
One of the first things from outer space that can harm us pretty badly is the movement of the stars. According to scientists and their recent research, the solid “Oort cloud” at the fringe of the solar system, which is the origin of our comets, may come into contact with a wandering star as it travels across the Milky Way and approaches our sun. This might enhance the likelihood of a large comet crashing into Earth.
Now the scary thing is that we are located inside a supernova’s less-dense bubble. Our solar system is protected from interaction with the cosmic medium by the heliosphere, which is formed by the sun’s wind and magnetic field. Our heliosphere may be less effective after we leave this part of the globe in 20,000 to 50,000 years (based on existing data and simulations), leaving Earth exposed. The possibility of increasing climate change would make mankind’s existence more difficult, if not impossible.
2. Climate change
There is no surprise that climate change has been one of our main issues for the past few decades. And while a lot of scientists are actively trying to stop this from getting worse, the truth is that one day we won’t be able to survive it anymore. According to various reports, our world can’t adapt to 4 degrees Fahrenheit, which is extremely cold. And now let’s do an imagination exercise and try to see how somebody would survive at 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Sheesh! That’s horrible and extremely terrifying to even think about!
Huge numbers of people would be forced to relocate at that rate of warming as sea levels rise and coastal regions submerge. Agriculture would suffer greatly. Because this is one of the things from outer space, scientists thought of ways to combat it, and in the case of an extreme warming scenario, geoengineering might be an alternative solution.
3. Sun will become larger
If the two things from outer space we discussed in the preceding paragraphs are any indication, this one will likely occur in the future. Our sun will cease to exist in 7.72 billion years. When that occurs, it will lose its outer atmosphere and turn into a planetary nebula, which is what is known as a “white dwarf.”
However, we are lucky because we won’t live that long to experience these last stages. The sun will get bigger and colder as it gets older. When it matures into a stellar giant, it will be large enough to swallow up Mercury and Venus. Although the Earth may currently appear to be secure, the sun will also produce an extraordinarily powerful solar wind that will slow down the planet.
In the end, our tiny blue planet will spiral into outer space and eventually melt away forever.
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4. Asteroid strikes
We all know what happened to dinosaurs, and it was tragic for sure! But can you imagine how humanity would survive asteroid strikes? The answer is simple: we won’t! The renowned Comet Swift-Tuttle contains 28 times the devastating energy of the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs and might reach Earth in the year 4479. According to NASA, Comet Swift-Tuttle is the most hazardous star in the universe at this moment. The good thing is that it hasn’t been spotted in the interior of our solar system for 31 years.
If we were lucky in 2019 when that jumbo-jet-sized asteroid went close to Earth without hitting it, in the future we won’t be! Now the dark humor in this situation is that even though asteroids are one of the things from outer space that will wipe humans from the Earth, the people who are writing and reading these words won’t be around to witness it either!
5. Supernovas
What exactly is a supernova? When a star dies, it may cause tremendous explosions that can wipe out whole solar systems, resulting in the creation of supernovae. These explosions produce the same amount of energy in a split second as our sun does in a million years.
A supernova, which happens when a star reaches the end of its life, happens around once or twice every 100 years in our Milky Way galaxy. We are roughly two-thirds of the way from the Milky Way’s dense center, which is not too far from where they are most likely to occur.
But can we expect something like this anytime soon? According to the scientists, we don’t need to worry about this fact anytime soon because it seems like the star Betelgeuse, the closest star to us, is going to end its life within at least 50 light-years of us. Which means millions of years from now on!
6. Nuclear bomb
The “good” news in this situation is that only very specific conditions would make nuclear war inevitable. Even if there were only a few exchanges, like the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US during World War II, there would still be humanitarian tragedies and little chance of eradicating humanity. It goes without saying that a sizable portion of the population will be impacted, yet due to how the earth is populated, the entire planet cannot theoretically be destroyed.
Why were nuclear weapons included in the list? Because of the so-called nuclear winter, which is much worse than one nuclear bomb, even though it may never happen, it’s a possibility. The world’s temperature might drop drastically and fast if enough nukes were to go off, interrupting food production and perhaps making human life unsafe and eventually being wiped from the earth completely. Sheesh, these thoughts gave us goosebumps for sure!
7. Powerful solar outburst
Even if the sun gives us warmth and vitamin D, it’s not as peaceful as we may think it is! Especially in 2023, when the ozone layer is thinner than ever. The sun creates magnetic fields that generate sun spots bigger than the Earth itself. Furthermore, the sun also emits radiation, which is at really high levels. This can lead to beautiful things like the northern lights, an amazing phenomenon that can be seen mostly in Scandinavian countries, but when the magnetic field becomes stronger, the situation will turn out badly.
In 1859, the planet experienced the strongest magnetic solar storm ever recorded. The Carrington Event was an occurrence that produced significant interference with relatively small-scale electrical devices. These things must have happened many times in the past, and people always managed to survive.
While this won’t exactly wipe us off the earth, it will still affect us since there will be no electricity available, which means no heating, air conditioning, internet, phones, and most importantly, food and medicines will spoil easily without a functional fridge.
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