[ad_1]
In Liu Cixin’s brief story “The Wandering Earth (opens in new tab)” (first revealed in Chinese journal Science Fiction World in July 2000), Cixin portrays a state of affairs wherein the planet’s leaders comply with propel Earth out of the solar system to flee an imminent solar flare that’s anticipated to decimate all the terrestrial planets.
This story is, after all, based mostly within the realm of fiction, however might Earth ever actually depart the solar system?
“It’s very unlikely,” Matteo Ceriotti, an aerospace engineer and space methods engineering lecturer on the University of Glasgow within the U.Ok., advised Live Science in an electronic mail.
However, as Ceriotti defined, “unlikely” doesn’t imply it is “impossible,” and recommended a approach it might theoretically be achieved.
“The Earth could be moved away from its orbit through the action of a massive interstellar object, flying through interstellar space and coming into the solar system and passing close to the Earth,” he mentioned.
Related: What if Earth were a super-Earth? (opens in new tab)
“In this close encounter, known as a ‘flyby,’ the Earth and the object would exchange energy and momentum, and the Earth’s orbit would be disrupted. If the object were fast, massive and close enough, it could project the Earth into an escape orbit directed outside of the solar system.”
Timothy Davis, a senior lecturer in physics and astronomy at Cardiff University within the U.Ok., agreed that Earth might theoretically be ousted from the solar system, and has his personal speculation about how this might occur.
“The planets, as they exist right now, are in stable orbits around the sun. However, if the sun were to have a close encounter with another star, then the gravitational interactions of these bodies could disturb these orbits, and potentially cause Earth to be ejected from the solar system,” Davis advised Live Science in an electronic mail.
However, Davis famous that, whereas this state of affairs is possible, it’s extremely uncertain it should occur — at the very least, within the foreseeable future.
“Such stellar encounters are quite rare,” Davis mentioned. “For instance, we know that the star Gliese 710 is expected to come quite close, in astronomical terms, to the sun in around a million years’ time — but even this flyby is unlikely to perturb the planets.”
While it is inconceivable that exterior forces will power Earth out of the solar system any time quickly, might humanity construct equipment able to shifting the planet to such a level that it finally ends up being ejected?
“The energy required to remove the Earth from its orbit and eject it from the solar system is so massive — equivalent to sextillion (a 1 with 21 zeros after it) megaton nuclear bombs going off at once — that this seems unlikely,” Davis mentioned.
Related: Why isn’t Earth perfectly round?
Even although such an occasion is way from possible, what would occur if Earth have been to interrupt away from the solar system? What impacts would happen if our dwelling planet ended up being completely booted into the depths of the universe?
“Earth would fly into interstellar space until captured or swallowed by another star or a black hole,” Ceriotti mentioned, including that have been Earth to depart the solar system, it could in all probability outcome within the decimation of a lot — if not all — of the planet’s life.
“It’s unlikely that the atmosphere would remain: Earth’s global climate is very delicate due to a fine balance of radiation incoming from the sun and energy dissipated to deep space. If this was to vary, temperatures would immediately and dramatically change,” Ceriotti mentioned.
Davis agreed that almost all life on Earth wouldn’t survive this cataclysmic transfer away from the solar system.
“If Earth were to leave the solar system, it’s very likely that the vast majority of life as we know it would disappear. Almost all the energy used by Earth’s living organisms originates from the sun, either directly (e.g. plants that photosynthesize (opens in new tab)), or indirectly (e.g. herbivores eating the plants, and carnivores eating the herbivores).
“In this state of affairs, the additional Earth moved away from the sun, the decrease its temperature (opens in new tab) would turn into. It would ultimately freeze over fully. The solely pure supply of warmth left could be the decay of radioactive components within the Earth’s crust left over from the formation of the solar system,” Davis said.
Davis explained that some life may linger but would ultimately be doomed. “Some ‘extremophiles’ (animals/crops that may dwell in excessive environments) would possibly eke out a residing from this power, however complicated life would probably disappear fully. This radioactive warmth would solely enable the Earth to keep up a temperature of round minus 230 levels C [Celsius, or minus 382 degrees Fahrenheit]. At these temperatures a lot of the ambiance would additionally freeze out, leaving Earth as a lifeless, icy world hurtling between the celebrities,” Davis said.
Looking far into the future, Ceriotti added that our solar system will eventually be disturbed so severely that Earth will either be knocked out of it, or will be destroyed entirely.
“We predict that our galaxy is on the right track to collide with Andromeda [our nearest neighboring galaxy] in roughly 4.5 billion years. Such a large-scale collision of tens of millions of stars is prone to trigger a serious disruption within the solar system!” Ceriotti said. “It can also be foreseen that the sun will, within the subsequent 5 billion years or so, enlarge and engulf the Earth,” Ceriotti added
So, whereas Earth will ultimately depart the solar system a method or one other, it isn’t one thing we must fear about for just a few billion years but. Probably.
Originally revealed on Live Science.
[ad_2]
Source link