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Artist rendering of Mars slamming into Earth  (Source: J Vidal-Madjar)
Earth may face chaotic end in 5 billion years

Research being conducted by French scientists indicates eventual destabilization of Mercury could cause a major impact between Earth and Mars.  The research was carried out by two French scientists who reportedly used "arcane mathematical" models to help predict the next five billion years of the galaxy.

Running a computer simulation of 2,501 different scenarios of various planets in the Earth's solar system, Mercury's orbit was disrupted, causing a domino effect that led to Earth, Venus and Mars also suffering from solar system disruption.  The 2,501 scenarios were over the next five billion years, noting that the solar system is 99 percent likely to continue to operate the exact same way as today without a hiccup.

"You first need Mercury to be destabilized by gravitational interaction with Jupiter, then this may destabilize Mars, which then can come very close to Earth," French researcher Jacques Laskar said during an interview with Space.com.  "Only then can you have destabilization of Venus' orbit and a collision with the Earth."

It's possible the inner planets will individually smash into one another, or a chaotic event in which the four planets smash into one another.  There is still a 99-to-1 chance that the inner planets of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars will be fine throughout the entire 5 billion years.

The French Paris Observatory's Laskar and Mickael Gastineau predict a chaotic event in 5 billion years, which is the same time frame some experts believe the sun will have used up all of its hydrogen and will enter a cooler state.  Once in a cooler state, however, the sun will begin to inflate into a red giant star capable of sucking all the inner planets into the sun.

The Earth, if it isn't sucked towards the sun, could actually end up being shot directly out of the solar system, researchers claim.

The "gas giants" located in the outer system, comprised of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, are much more stable when orbiting around the sun, and could be safe from destruction for up to a billion years.

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Someone call Michael Bay
By gcouriel on 6/12/2009 10:08:27 AM , Rating: 5
I smell a new Michael Bay movie out of this one. Can you imagine the special effects???

It might happen in the next 5 billion years... yeah, and a whole helluva lot of things could happen before that. this is a load of crap.




RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By TomZ on 6/12/2009 10:11:38 AM , Rating: 5
Just so long as Megan Fox is in the movie...


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By corduroygt on 6/12/2009 10:21:02 AM , Rating: 5
She'll be too old by then


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By omnicronx on 6/12/2009 10:59:49 AM , Rating: 3
I'd still do her..


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By Pirks on 6/12/2009 11:56:54 AM , Rating: 1
necrophile


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By christojojo on 6/12/2009 12:08:58 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
necrophile
????

2 billions of dead people do it and only one is a necrophile?

For shame, once again the male gets the bad rap.

LOL


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By christojojo on 6/12/2009 12:10:04 PM , Rating: 2
*billions of years old


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By akosixiv on 6/12/2009 6:16:19 PM , Rating: 5
fossilphile?


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By Davelo on 6/12/2009 7:23:53 PM , Rating: 3
RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By callmeroy on 6/12/2009 12:26:54 PM , Rating: 2
Amen bruda......as far as actresses go I think she is currently the hottest one in hollywood (though some others aren't far behind -- at least IMO).

I'm almost interested in wanting to see her cast in a serious movie that makes her actually ACT to see if she is talented beyond just be in a movie as the eye candy...you can't call what she did in Transformers as phenomial acting - she was there because of her looks and smoking bod.


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By MrBlastman on 6/15/2009 12:20:54 PM , Rating: 1
Women with tattoos wil never be hot :(


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By Bender 123 on 6/12/2009 10:22:41 AM , Rating: 6
Bay: There could be this robot and "KABOOOM!" Then a guy walks in and fires a missile and "BOOOOOOOM!!!!" Then...

General: Mr Bay...Those are special effects, not ideas.


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By smegz on 6/12/2009 2:08:32 PM , Rating: 4
South Park reference for the win.

Now...for Robot Chicken:

Michael Bay presents Explosions!
BOOM, POW, BLAM
MICHAEL BAY SPLOSIONS!

...it goes on from there.


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By Mitch101 on 6/12/2009 11:32:44 AM , Rating: 4
I smell another Al Gore Nobel Prize on Interplanetary collisions unless we change our carbon footprint in the making.


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By Tsuwamono on 6/12/2009 12:00:11 PM , Rating: 1
That's just stupid.

Obviously we can't do anything about slamming into another planet. He may be out for his own gain and uninterested in the actual state of the environment but he's not a complete idiot.


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By christojojo on 6/12/2009 12:10:37 PM , Rating: 5
Define "complete"


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By Tsuwamono on 6/12/2009 12:59:26 PM , Rating: 2
Like he wouldn't say global warming is the cause of this. He isn't THAT stupid.

And why did I get voted down for that?


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By invidious on 6/12/2009 1:26:24 PM , Rating: 4
Because Al Gore is a complete idiot.


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By acase on 6/12/2009 1:27:19 PM , Rating: 4
Uhh...because he IS THAT STUPID!


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By FaaR on 6/14/2009 5:23:12 AM , Rating: 2
Uh, assuming for a second here that you're actually serious, then Al Gore is obviously far more intelligent than you are (he = ex vice president for 8 years, you = pimply-face making smartass comments on the internet).

But you were joking, right? Ha ha. So very not funny.

Listen for a change, you ignorant american, just because you don't agree with a man's stated position (Al Gore spouting stuff about the environment) doesn't automatically mean he's an idiot, okay? 50% or more of ANYTHING a politician says is to influence people into giving him more attention, power, money...etc. Smart people can actually accomplish that, and Gore is living proof of it. He's rich, and people listen to what he says. He might well be a hypocrite or worse, but he's certainly not stupid.

Brainfails like you however end up flunking highschool because of smoking too much pot and cutting class, and then flip burgers for a living at Micky D.


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By Mitch101 on 6/12/09, Rating: 0
RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By Tsuwamono on 6/12/2009 1:06:29 PM , Rating: 2
I don't remember saying that he was SMART.. or that everything he said was true. All I said was he wasn't a COMPLETE moron. Our extremely high rate of C02 production still wouldn't be enough to cause ALL of the climate change we see but I don't think it would hurt to conserve some of our fuel.

Although I don't agree with 90% of what Al Gore says, I do agree with the idea of turning off lights when you aren't in the room, not heating your house by turning your oven on to 600 degrees and leaving the door open, or by drying your laundry one piece of clothing at a time in a 30 year old dryer that makes my electric meter look like some mexican got a hold of it and put a spinner on it.

I don't see why I get rated down for being moderate lol. I get rated down by both sides.. its quite gay..


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By acase on 6/12/2009 1:29:43 PM , Rating: 2
I don't know too many moderate gays, but to each their own


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By BBeltrami on 6/12/2009 5:09:46 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I don't see why I get rated down for being moderate lol. I get rated down by both sides.. its quite gay..


:picard_facepalm


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By Baov on 6/12/2009 7:17:01 PM , Rating: 4
Solar activity is increasing carbon footprint? You mean the sun is shooting carbon dioxide at us? Cool story bro.


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By sinful on 6/13/2009 3:22:54 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Solar activity is increasing carbon footprint? You mean the sun is shooting carbon dioxide at us? Cool story bro.


Hopefully not!!! But it's a good thing solar activity and carbon dioxide don't interact and have no "effect" on our climate whatsover.... you know, like making it a greenhouse or something.

We sure dodged THAT bullet!


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By rcc on 6/12/2009 6:13:22 PM , Rating: 2
nooooooooo!!

We have to minimize our magnetic fields. That's what's destabilizing Mercury, and that's what's going to suck in Mars.

BTW, where does one get what ever these scientists are smoking. This is a blatant play for someone's 15 minutes.

Clearly, in 5 millions years peoplekind will have successfully constructed a Dysan sphere out of Unobtainium. Mars will just bounce off and thicken the asteroid belt, oh yeah, and turn it red.


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By callmeroy on 6/12/2009 12:31:18 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
It might happen in the next 5 billion years... yeah, and a whole helluva lot of things could happen before that. this is a load of crap.


the odd thing about this article is this isn't a new discovery or theory -- for years scientists have been talking about the earth's orbit and infact the theory that our entire solar system is moving.

Of course the most famous scientific theory having to do with a deadline of 5 billion years --- when our Sun runs out of fuel and as a result goes supernova.


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By Tsuwamono on 6/12/2009 1:01:09 PM , Rating: 1
If the sun doesn't have to be electric why do people always give me shit for driving a Cherokee that gets 10 mpg instead of a Hybrid... hypocrites... lol


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By FaaR on 6/14/2009 5:45:17 AM , Rating: 2
The sun is much too small a star to go supernova. Its destiny is far, far duller than that as first a red giant, and then a white dwarf.

We should all thank our lucky...er...star, that we have such a dull sun. Even assuming life could survive orbiting a supernova-capable star, it would have sploded long before humans came into existence.


RE: Someone call Michael Bay
By callmeroy on 6/15/2009 8:55:39 AM , Rating: 2
True...I think when I posted i confused definitions of supernova....the earth is still doomed though (not that we'll care in 5 billion years ).....

when the core burns out it, the sun will lose pressure and collapse upon itself this will being a new phase whereby the outer shell of remaining hydrogen will heat up which in turn will cause the outtermost rim of the sun to expand and keep expanding hundreds of times engulfing planets along the way --- Mercury is surely gonna bite the dust (literally it will cause planets to vaporize), Venus wouldn't be a safe place to be either. Indeed most scientist think Mars and Earth will also be vaporized -- but some feel the effect will be different --- stating Earth and beyond might just be far enough to be flung out into space instead of engulfed.

Of course not that it will matter --- the planet will still be dead. Highly doubtful the human race will be around in 1 million years at our rate, much less 5 billion anyway.

(though imagine if the Earth and humans were here in a million years --- it be cool to see what kind of graphics games have then...and maybe Sony will finally have lower prices....)


Take Action Now!!
By nct on 6/12/2009 10:12:56 AM , Rating: 5
We must immediately begin implementing a global effort to minimize our planetary orbit disruption footprint! After all, if a computer model says it might be possible at some point in the future, it must be true. Even if mitigation attempts result in stifled productivity and lowered standards of living, well, we can't afford to wait and see now can we?




RE: Take Action Now!!
By Screwballl on 6/12/2009 10:33:40 AM , Rating: 2
YES! we must keep our childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens childrens children SAFE!!!


RE: Take Action Now!!
By Verran on 6/12/2009 10:57:03 AM , Rating: 5
I try not to be a grammar nazi, but 31 missed possessive apostrophes in a row has overridden my self-control.

:P


RE: Take Action Now!!
By dflynchimp on 6/12/2009 11:13:12 AM , Rating: 5
Nazi is spelled with a capital 'N' :P


RE: Take Action Now!!
By Hiawa23 on 6/12/2009 12:27:32 PM , Rating: 2
probably won't happen in my life time, so not too concerned. More concerend with paying mortgage, bills, putting food on the table at this moment, terrible economy & gas prices going back up as we are again being bent over & shafted by the towels yet again & nothing our government can do about it.


RE: Take Action Now!!
By Tsuwamono on 6/12/2009 1:11:32 PM , Rating: 2
Why not? Can't you just invade another muslim country..... nevermind.. Takes money and fuel to do that.. lol


RE: Take Action Now!!
By FaaR on 6/14/2009 5:50:09 AM , Rating: 2
If you refer to the people of the middle-east as "towels", then yes, you do deserve to get shafted by them. Long, and hard.

You could always buy yourself a bicycle you know, if you don't enjoy your regular shaftings.


RE: Take Action Now!!
By sc3252 on 6/12/2009 11:29:37 AM , Rating: 2
Obviously your comment is supposed to be a joke. The planet colliding in a few billion years with another planet is interesting for scientific reasons, but obviously has no impact on us today or in the future. Especially considering that life(completx) is only expected to last at most for another billion years on the planet, and mosts likely only around 500 million years.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth#Habitability
future section.


RE: Take Action Now!!
By acase on 6/12/09, Rating: 0
RE: Take Action Now!!
By borowki2 on 6/12/2009 11:53:46 AM , Rating: 2
I agree more must be done, but it's worth noting that the passage of President Obama's stimulus package has already saved or created 150,000 planets.


RE: Take Action Now!!
By Ticholo on 6/14/2009 10:24:04 AM , Rating: 2
See? A Republican President would have saved or created two times more planets at half the cost to the tax-payers.
When will America wake up?!


Misleading headlines?
By deanx0r on 6/12/2009 10:05:42 AM , Rating: 2
Sensational and misleading headlines at DT again. This could happens in 5 billion years. "Could" because they aren't exactly sure, "5 billion years" because we will all be dead to care too much about it.




RE: Misleading headlines?
By StevoLincolnite on 6/12/2009 11:22:10 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
because we will all be dead to care too much about it.


Only the good die young, you sir' will live forever.


RE: Misleading headlines?
By achintya on 6/12/2009 12:16:59 PM , Rating: 2
Well, I read something about this somewhere else which had focused mainly on Mercury's problems, and the process which they used was to vary the orbit by a small amount over the years for the final result. The varying factor ranged from a small number to a much larger one(I think somewhere between 1cm to 1-2m). All of these situations were modeled and some had the outcome of catastrophe. That's why the "Could".

The other article is posted on Ars. http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/06/kickin...
Read it for the other facts.


RE: Misleading headlines?
By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 6/12/2009 12:35:41 PM , Rating: 2
The moon is losing orbit every year. I'm pretty sure that will wipe us out first.


RE: Misleading headlines?
By Sanity on 6/12/2009 1:38:43 PM , Rating: 2
Ehh?? Last I heard, the moon was moving farther away from us each hear by about an inch. Something about gaining angular momentum from the earth, which in turn is slowing our rotation. A billion years from now our days will be longer and the moon farther away.


RE: Misleading headlines?
By Sanity on 6/12/2009 1:43:32 PM , Rating: 2
"year" not "hear"

Oh to be able to edit...


RE: Misleading headlines?
By PitViper007 on 6/12/2009 1:44:15 PM , Rating: 2
Actually, IF I remember correctly, the moon is gaining orbital altitude.


RE: Misleading headlines?
By Jimbo1234 on 6/12/2009 1:47:59 PM , Rating: 2
...not to mention that the sun will die before then.


RE: Misleading headlines?
By Ticholo on 6/14/2009 10:27:26 AM , Rating: 2
WRONG!
When we finally start throwing our nuclear waste into it, the Sun will live longer than the Earth.


Friendly Wager
By MrPeabody on 6/12/2009 10:14:44 AM , Rating: 2
I'll wager £400.00 that this does not happen within the next five billion years.

Any takers?




RE: Friendly Wager
By mjcutri on 6/12/2009 10:23:14 AM , Rating: 3
There's a place for bets like that:

http://www.longbets.org/


RE: Friendly Wager
By Finnkc on 6/12/2009 10:25:17 AM , Rating: 2
I will take that bet ...

Also ... if humanity hasn't destroyed the Earth in that time frame then I guess it will be an epic exit.


RE: Friendly Wager
By bubba551 on 6/12/2009 4:38:12 PM , Rating: 3
I don't want to take a side on this bet, but as a neutral party I would be happy to hold the stakes for you.


RE: Friendly Wager
By paleguy on 6/12/2009 7:26:40 PM , Rating: 2
Are you insured?

By survival? No?

Then I can't take that bet.


How can I be alive for this event?
By SlipDizzy on 6/12/2009 11:02:53 AM , Rating: 5
I want to stand on the Earth as Mars approaches with my hand stretched out towards the closest person I can see on the approaching planet (I'm sure we'll have colonies on Mars by then). Hopefully, they will hold out their hand and for a brief moment we will partake in the greatest "High Five" ever.




By Lord Zado on 6/12/2009 11:44:15 AM , Rating: 2
Or the other guy could flip you off ala Top Gun.


By SpaceJumper on 6/12/2009 11:49:33 AM , Rating: 2
Don't worry, Bruce Willis will come to the rescue. He will blast Mars away with his drills.


But...
By ggordonliddy on 6/12/2009 10:52:55 AM , Rating: 2
...how can I make this work for me?




RE: But...
By walk2k on 6/12/2009 12:27:58 PM , Rating: 2
Do like Lex Luthor and start buying up real estate on Venus.


RE: But...
By phazers on 6/12/2009 1:21:02 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
how can I make this work for me?


I plan on selling special tinfoil hats to prevent damage to the skull, should an errant planet drop upon your head unexpectedly :D.


RE: But...
By Ticholo on 6/14/2009 10:32:47 AM , Rating: 2
You know, with "what exactly constitutes a planet" being changed every year, you'll have a big market when bird droppings are finally given their due status as small planetoids.
People will go nuts for those tinfoil, scalp protecting hats!


Y5B?
By theslug on 6/12/2009 10:37:20 AM , Rating: 2
Is this related to the year 5 billion problem they have been warning us about?

http://www.y5b.com/




RE: Y5B?
By nvalhalla on 6/12/2009 10:58:03 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, that's what I thought at first. So the planets might collide in 5B years, isn't the sun supposed to burn out then too? If the sun dies, I don't think anything on earth will care about a collision with Mars.


RE: Y5B?
By Ticholo on 6/14/2009 10:42:12 AM , Rating: 2
They're working on a new BIOS for the Universe that will eliminate that problem.
Plus, every new star for about 5 years now has a work-around for Y5B. It may be as simple as replacing our obsolete model.
The only problem with that is then we start saying "Well, if we're changing the Sun, why not change a planet or two and add more RAM?". Then we decide to wait for the next state-of-the-art thing while raising the money for it and may procrastinate until it's too late.


Someone inform the artist
By kontorotsui on 6/12/2009 10:44:09 AM , Rating: 4
The artist rendering is all wrong. In 5 billions years, Africa and Europe would be very different due to erosion and continent shifting.




RE: Someone inform the artist
By randomposter on 6/12/2009 12:00:57 PM , Rating: 2
Be that as it may, the Earth will still look rather jaunty and dashing in a bowler hat.

Pip pip old chap!


Who cares?
By zinfamous on 6/12/2009 3:33:21 PM , Rating: 2
So what, the dolphins will be in charge by then. Let them deal with it.




RE: Who cares?
By Pythias on 6/12/2009 4:34:17 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
So long, and thanks for ALL THE FISH!


RE: Who cares?
By nixoofta on 6/13/2009 3:12:37 PM , Rating: 2
Stan: "Dude, dolphins are intelligent and friendly."

Cartman: "Intelligent and friendly on rye bread with some mayonnaise."


I can save us!
By IcePickFreak on 6/12/2009 11:24:34 AM , Rating: 2
This is easily avoidable. On February 17th, 3047 everybody in the western hemisphere needs to jump at 3:14:23 A.M.

Mark your calenders!




RE: I can save us!
By acase on 6/12/2009 1:02:04 PM , Rating: 3
Is that CMT? EST? Ahh I don't wanna screw this up!


Wrong issue
By s d on 6/13/2009 12:21:36 AM , Rating: 3
I thought this site was supposed to be the intellect extraordinary?

On this rare occassion I read all the posts to this thread ... none addressed the actual issue which laughably invaliates this "scientific reasearch".

I am not exactly sure the correct data so cut me some slack ...

Every 28,000 years our solar system sinusodially passes thru the milky way galactic plane of the ecliptic.

Each transit massively increase the probability of either the sol planetary orbits undergoing destabilization or the extra solar objects undergoing collision with our own planetary objects.




RE: Wrong issue
By TSS on 6/13/2009 10:05:23 AM , Rating: 2
any scientific research that goes as long as "5 billion years" isn't science at all, it's entertainment by default.

nothing we know of is going to survive 5 billions years. even the great pyramids will have turned to sand by then.

not to mention there's not a single way to confirm this kind of "research". nor to prove it isn't going to happen.

that pretty much invalidates any scientific debate and arguements on this article. so all that's really left is funny michael bay quotes ^^.

really i commend you for wanting to debate science, but please, spend the effort where the effort might actually have a result :).


Earth may face chaotic end in 5 billion years...
By mdogs444 on 6/12/2009 10:04:11 AM , Rating: 1
Unless global warming gets us first in 1.5 billions years. Neither of which bothers me.




By FITCamaro on 6/12/2009 10:48:32 AM , Rating: 1
Just goes to show how little some scientists have to do.


By 67STANG on 6/12/2009 11:35:04 AM , Rating: 2
I'm sure the scientists will suggest we tether Mars to Jupiter using Monster Cable to avoid certain destruction.

Seriously, this prediction carries about as much "wow factor" as "New study shows cigarettes are bad for you."

If we are still all living on Earth in 1000 years, I'd be quite surprised anyhow. That would mean an epic fail for space research and technology.


Thx
By icanhascpu on 6/12/2009 1:15:26 PM , Rating: 2
Thanks for reporting on this instead of something that matters. Back to arstechnica.com and sciencedaily.com for me.

I only come to DT anymore for the funny commentary below the article.




RE: Thx
By jbartabas on 6/12/2009 1:47:15 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Thanks for reporting on this instead of something that matters. Back to arstechnica.com and sciencedaily.com for me


You mean like that article:
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/06/kickin...

:-P

(although the article there is so much more interesting ... ;-) )


By Seemonkeyscanfly on 6/12/2009 5:23:19 PM , Rating: 2
OK with "Earth may face chaotic end in 5 billion years" in mind, I have one question. Did I not read somewhere the the Sun will only last for around another 3 billion years, then turn into a black hole. Which means all the planets will have compacted together long before this collision is scheduled to happen. Which every comes first, I just want to make sure I have my calendar marked correctly so that I'm out of the Galaxy that week... :P




By AlmostExAMD on 6/13/2009 12:04:40 AM , Rating: 2
Our Sun doesn't have enough mass to go supernova and turn into a black hole,It will eat through elements hydrogen,helium etc etc and grow in size becoming a red giant,engulfing Mercury and Venus and throwing Earth into a new orbit,All water on our planet will be vaporized, Our sun will gradually shrink down and become a white dwarf star and burn for billions of years. Of course it's all theory but either way I wouldn't worry as Human race will probably have wiped it'self out way sooner than these scenarios or hopefully smart enough to colonise outer planets moons and built sustainable spaceships that can travel out of our solar system with hundreds of generations of people living and dying on board.


bahahahahahahah
By jay401 on 6/12/2009 10:02:51 AM , Rating: 2
ahahahahahahah :)




Wait what?
By Digimonkey on 6/12/2009 10:07:26 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
The "gas giants" located in the outer system, comprised of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, are much more stable when orbiting around the moon , and could be safe from destruction for up to a billion years.




Typo?
By Kibbles on 6/12/2009 10:07:30 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
The "gas giants" located in the outer system, comprised of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, are much more stable when orbiting around the moon , and could be safe from destruction for up to a billion years.


Do you mean sun? and do you mean a billion years after the sun goes red giant?




No biggie...
By Schrag4 on 6/12/2009 10:46:53 AM , Rating: 2
This won't be a problem, even if it happens. In 5 billion years we will either be extinct or we will be living outside of this solar system. In fact I'd say one or the other will be true within an extremely tiny slice of 5 billion years, like several thousand years (or about a ten-thousandth of a percent of 5 billion years).




This doesn't leave us much time...
By Tegrat on 6/12/2009 10:59:25 AM , Rating: 2
We must man the force fields and start nuking Mars until it becomes small enough to burn up in our atmosphere...

/end panic




Just great
By cochy on 6/12/2009 11:46:56 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
There is still a 99-to-1 chance that the inner planets of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars will be fine throughout the entire 5 billion years.


And in 6 billion years the the Sun will reach the red giant stage in it's evolution. At this time Mercury will undoubtedly be consumed with Venus likely to be consumed and the Earth could very well meet a similar end.

Didn't need 2000 different scenarios and a supercomputer to figure this one out.




The only thing I take from this...
By Amiga500 on 6/12/2009 12:28:25 PM , Rating: 2
Is the obvious.

IF we want to ensure the human race endures*, then colonisation of other planets is required, and not just within our own solar system.

*In whatever shape or form it has evolved into by then - we've only been around for about 200,000 years never mind 5 billion!




Great...
By nixoofta on 6/12/2009 3:32:11 PM , Rating: 2
this'll scroll across the bottom of our screens for a million years and then the government'll step in and extend it for 6 thousand years 'cause some people won't be ready for it....sigh.




Sounds like a job for red matter.
By Howard on 6/12/2009 6:40:26 PM , Rating: 2
Hopefully we don't mess up.




Alert Al Gore!
By Divide Overflow on 6/13/2009 12:23:13 AM , Rating: 2
I can see Al Gore's next book title: "An Inconvenient Orbit".

Oh, wait a minute. Maybe this will happen sooner and save me from having to actually see such a book...




Aoes
By Thrymm on 6/13/2009 6:10:52 AM , Rating: 2
Chimps, Apes and Orangutans will rule the earth in 200 years. Who cares about 5 billion years when the sun already is starting to burn helium and consume Mercury. Then Venus, then earth(or at least make it a hot rock).

Money spent on this is ridiculous, ooooh watch out for the Martians! I love astronomy and how space and time and the fascinating number of stars in the Milky Way, not to mention millions of other galaxies out there.




Senseless
By Zingam on 6/13/2009 9:44:04 AM , Rating: 2
I hate senseless news like that. Guys, 5 billion years are 5 000 000 000 years away! Why don't scientist and news reporters have something better to do right now? Lets' worry about these collisions in 4.5 billions years. We have on Earth much more important issues right now!




??
By brightstar on 6/13/2009 11:43:44 PM , Rating: 2
I already seen this on Sci-Fi....boring




Who Cares?
By mindless1 on 6/14/2009 4:52:07 PM , Rating: 2
So long as it's not happening on Friday, who cares? (Friday is Taco night).




But by then...
By Emryse on 6/16/2009 11:49:56 PM , Rating: 2
'Mother Earth' will have "evolved" into a self-awareness of the impending danger, and in some way or form manage to avoid the disaster in order to save itself...

Or at least that should be the theory of the evolutionist community, since they're willing to buy into all sorts of other nonsense...

Not only that, but I wonder, if these researchers took they're "predictive" modeling and modeled 5 billion years into the past, with the same assumptions to which they arrived at their conclusions for the future, we would probably have already crashed into some other body and not exist now...

How arrogant can the scientific community be, to assume that they can predict with accuracy a model that extends 5 years (they're sure sucked so far at that, by the way), let alone 5 billion??? Pretty damned arrogant, I guess.




Hardest Hit
By Teancum on 6/17/2009 6:27:00 PM , Rating: 2
World will end in 5 billion years!: Women and minorities hardest hit.




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