SPACE WARNING: Death star heading towards Earth will end life with hail of space rocks

[catfish1957]

I like the way you think!

Hell, I've thrown a party for a neighbor's dog getting rid of its flea problem.   

[Wingnut]

Hell, I've thrown a party for a neighbor's dog getting rid of its flea problem.   

Well that is just downright neighborly of you. What was the dog drinking?

[catfish1957]

Well that is just downright neighborly of you. What was the dog drinking?

Sadly, the dog slept through it.  Probably its first good nights sleep it had in a week.  Tired dogs don't hunt well ya know.

[INVAR]

Meanwhile, back to the thread title...

[Smokin Joe]

Tell me what would I miss about this planet??

Well, if you really don't like it here, leave, already. 
As a geologist, I find this to be a fascinating place, with a dynamic history--and present. It has an idiot problem which could get ugly, but idiots tend to be a self-correcting problem. 
Funny thing, though my travels have been limited to 37 of the lower 48 and three provinces of Canada, just about any place I have been I have been able to find beauty in my surroundings, although I have a habit of getting off the main road. I have met some mighty fine folks out there, no one perfect (and that includes the guy in the mirror), but with definite redeeming qualities.

Sure, those other places beckon. New planets, new rules, more to figure out, but this one is fascinating, too. Nothing I saw there would not have an analog here, unless it was something completely new.

So, sure, some day out there I'd get tired of the smell of my own sweat and the taste of recycled suit water and dream of lying on a beach like I did in my youth, swimming in the ocean, or standing on a moutaintop in the Alleghenies, or the deserts of Nevada, The Northern Rockies, the smell of bilge water on a workboat, the sight of the endless skies of The Big Empty where you can really see the stars we dream of on a crisp winter night. Yeah, there would be things I miss, even some people, but that wouldn't stop me from going.

[Joe Wooten]

Hence the need to leave this hell hole..

The only problem with this "hell hole" planet, is that ALL the others we know about are much, much worse.

[Cyber Liberty]

From what I read in the article, the danger isn't really from a collision with the star itself, but from the fact it will perturb the orbits of objects in the Oort cloud, creating secondary hazards.  Those objects popped out of their stable orbits would be the death blow to the Terrestrial planets.

Imagine thousands of new comets.

[INVAR]

From what I read in the article, the danger isn't really from a collision with the star itself, but from the fact it will perturb the orbits of objects in the Oort cloud, creating secondary hazards.  Those objects popped out of their stable orbits would be the death blow to the Terrestrial planets.

Imagine thousands of new comets.

Yes.

Imagine.

[Wingnut]

The only problem with this "hell hole" planet, is that ALL the others we know about are much, much worse.

They just need a good cookbook.

[INVAR]

They just need a good cookbook.

They got them out there in space:

[montanajoe]

Actually I think it will be a near by supernova..

or the more disquieting scenario that we could detect a nearby star would become a supernova within the next century or so..

[Cyber Liberty]

Actually I think it will be a near by supernova..

or the more disquieting scenario that we could detect a nearby star would become a supernova within the next century or so..

I agree with that...a much more likely event.  Too bad, because even if we do overcome the welfare state and get the wherewithal to get off this rock we'd still be killed by that.

[Cripplecreek]

I agree with that...a much more likely event.  Too bad, because even if we do overcome the welfare state and get the wherewithal to get off this rock we'd still be killed by that.

Possible but I don't know about it being more likely. After all, we know this star is headed in our direction and has a high likelihood of skimming the far reaches of our solar system. That would definitely unsettle things out there.

Only certain types of stars go supernova and that's a long process you can see happening many thousands or millions of years in advance. They don't go from a stable star to supernova in a century.

[Cyber Liberty]

Possible but I don't know about it being more likely. After all, we know this star is headed in our direction and has a high likelihood of skimming the far reaches of our solar system. That would definitely unsettle things out there.

Only certain types of stars go supernova and that's a long process you can see happening many thousands or millions of years in advance. They don't go from a stable star to supernova in a century.

The question is, Would we be able to detect it?  We'd have to be looking in the right place...

[montanajoe]

Possible but I don't know about it being more likely. After all, we know this star is headed in our direction and has a high likelihood of skimming the far reaches of our solar system. That would definitely unsettle things out there.

Only certain types of stars go supernova and that's a long process you can see happening many thousands or millions of years in advance. They don't go from a stable star to supernova in a century.

Of course, but we could possibly see it coming if we knew what we were looking for a century or two ahead of time. Although a supernova seems to happen in a blink of the eye from our perspective if one was close enough  (eg in the same star system) it would be possible to accurately predict when it would occur I dont think that ability is either far off or possibly something we could not do today if we knew what we were looking for..

[Cripplecreek]

Of course, but we could possibly see it coming if we knew what we were looking for a century or two ahead of time. Although a supernova seems to happen in a blink of the eye from our perspective if one was close enough  (eg in the same star system) it would be possible to accurately predict when it would occur I dont think that ability is either far off or possibly something we could not do today if we knew what we were looking for..

The actual explosion happens in an instant but the events leading up to it take millions of years and are pretty well known to us. Only supergiant stars go supernova and most of those are blue supergiants. Before a star goes supernova they become red giants as the outer layers expand and cool.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX2YzkS5LBo

[Cyber Liberty]

We're watching Betelgeuse.

[Cripplecreek]

We're watching Betelgeuse.

50 light years seems to be considered the danger zone and Betelgeuse is over 700 light years away.

Betelgeuse could go at any time but we expect it because we recognize the symptoms of an impending supernova. Kinda hoping its happened and the light will reach earth in my lifetime.  It should be visible even in broad daylight.

[Elderberry]

Rogue star HIP 85605 on collision course with our solar system, but Earthlings need not worry

January 5, 2015 by Matt Williams, Universe Today   https://phys.org/news/2015-01-rogue-star-hip-collision-solar.html

It's known as HIP 85605, one of two stars that make up a binary in the Hercules constellation roughly 16 light years away. And if a recent research paper produced by Dr. Coryn Bailer-Jones of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany is correct, it is on a collision course with our Solar System.

Now for the good news: according to Bailer-Jones' calculations, the star will pass by our Solar System at a distance of 0.04 parsecs, which is equivalent to 8,000 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun (8,000 AUs). In addition, this passage will not affect Earth or any other planet's orbit around the Sun. And perhaps most importantly of all, none of it will be happening for another 240,000 to 470,000 years from now.

"Even though the galaxy contains very many stars," Bailor-Jones told Universe Today via email, "the spaces between them are huge. So even over the (long) life of our galaxy so far, the probability of any two stars have actually collided—as opposed to just coming close—is extremely small."

However, in astronomical terms, that still counts as a near-miss. In a universe that is 46 billion light years in any direction – and that's just the observable part of it – an event that is expected to take place just 50 light days away is considered to be pretty close. And in the context of space and time, a quarter of a million to half a million years is the very near future.

The real concern is the effect that the passage of HIP 85605 could have on the Oort Cloud – the massive cloud of icy planetesimals that surrounds the Solar System. Given that it's distance is between 20,000 and 50,000 AU from our Sun, HIP 85605 would actually move through the Oort cloud and cause serious disruption.

Many of these planetesimals could be blown off into space, but others could be sent hurtling towards Earth. Assuming humanity is still around at this point in time, this could present a bit of an inconvenience, even if it is spread over the course of a million years.

[montanajoe]

The actual explosion happens in an instant but the events leading up to it take millions of years and are pretty well known to us. Only supergiant stars go supernova and most of those are blue supergiants. Before a star goes supernova they become red giants as the outer layers expand and cool.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX2YzkS5LBo

Not to quibble but..

A super giant does not necessarily give out much viable light. Could be wrong but I think the possibility of a near by supernova going undetected or giving us notice its coming within a century or two is more of a possibility than asteroids ^-^

[Joe Wooten]

Actually I think it will be a near by supernova..

or the more disquieting scenario that we could detect a nearby star would become a supernova within the next century or so..

Are you Sirius?

[EC]

Tell me what would I miss about this planet??

Bit late, but ...

All of it. You were designed for this planet. This gravity, this air pressure and composition, this day/night cycle, these amounts of trace elements in the water. Your 20 times great grandchildren might be comfortable on whatever planet (or asteroid field) you wind up on - you won't.

[mountaineer]

In more dire news, this time from the "climate change" standpoint:

NY Magazine Says Earth Will Be Uninhabitable By End Of Century. Wrong
In his New York Magazine article, 'The Uninhabitable Earth,' doomsayer David Wallace-Wells issues numerous dire warnings that aren’t supported by science.
By H. Sterling Burnett   
July 18, 2017

More than 100 years ago, it was not uncommon to find people, usually men, standing on street corners of major cities holding large placards or signs proclaiming, “Repent, the End Is Near.” Most people crossed the street to avoid these doomsayers and their rants of the impending destruction of Earth. Nowadays, such latter-day prophets of the apocalypse lead government agencies—or even entire governments—and are invited to testify to Congress and write lengthy jeremiads in New York Magazine, as David Wallace-Wells did on July 9.

In his article, “The Uninhabitable Earth,” Wallace-Wells issues numerous dire warnings, following in a long line of seers of impending planetary climate doom who have proclaimed only radical action in the form of abandoning the use of fossil fuels can save the planet.  ...

The truth is data from global satellites, weather balloons, and even the highly doctored ground-based temperature measurements demonstrate the amount and rate of global warming over the past half-century is considerably lower than the average predictions of climate models. In fact, Mann says Wallace-Wells’ article consistently overstates even the extreme projections of climate models, calling the NY Magazine article a “doomist framing” of climate science. ...

Read the article at The Federalist

[SunkenCiv]

[snip]Swinburn University astrophysicist Alan Duffy told Australia's Herald Sun: "Objects hardly ever meet in space -- the distances are so huge -- but the gravitational influence of a star is enormous, even something a lightyear away can rattle the loosely held Oort Cloud objects. "But there's no doubt that nearby stars in the past have nudged Oort objects into falling towards the inner solar system."[/snip]That's interesting, considering there's zero observational evidence for the existence of the Oort Cloud. :)

Better source: https://phys.org/news/2015-01-rogue-star-hip-collision-solar.html

[catfish1957]

[snip]Swinburn University astrophysicist Alan Duffy told Australia's Herald Sun: "Objects hardly ever meet in space -- the distances are so huge -- but the gravitational influence of a star is enormous, even something a lightyear away can rattle the loosely held Oort Cloud objects. "But there's no doubt that nearby stars in the past have nudged Oort objects into falling towards the inner solar system."[/snip]That's interesting, considering there's zero observational evidence for the existence of the Oort Cloud. :)

Better source: https://phys.org/news/2015-01-rogue-star-hip-collision-solar.html

Does any scientist have any information on what the size of the debris in the Oort Cloud?  If it is just Cosmic Dust, then phooey......