R.C. Anderson
Earth May Not Need Spaceships to Explore Space
September 9th 2008 14:00
This may not be exactly what happens, though. Some scientists hypothesize that the earth may actually get pushed outward from its current orbit and away from the sun, allowing it to escape destruction by fire. The idea is that as the sun transforms into a red giant, its gravitational pull on the Earth will lessen, allowing the Earth to change its orbit and drift further from the sun. Other factors are more difficult to predict. For example, what effect will the other planets have on the Earth’s orbit? If one dismisses the relatively small effects of the other planets, the Earth’s orbit is calculated to move three millimeters each year. Dr. Lorenzo Iorio at Italy’s National Institute of Nuclear Physics calculated this change in Earth’s movement, however, believes that this small movement will not be enough to escape the sudden expansion of the sun when it reaches the red giant stage. Unfortunately, even if the Earth does escape, the sun will collapse into a white dwarf after its expansion to a red giant. This will leave the Earth without the sun’s life-sustaining rays, presumably to leave people to starve and freeze to death slowly. Either way, our future on Earth isn’t looking too bright.
Source: Scientific American, Sept 2008
| 29 |
| Vote |
Shared on
Add To: 
Subscribe to this blog
