We Are Doomed (in 1.5 million years)

Russian News ^ | 3/14/10 | Vadim Bobylev

[Tom Hawks]

The Gliese 710 from the constellation Serpens Cauda is due to arrive in about 1.5 million years, and has an 86 per cent probability of passing through the Oort Cloud, says Vadim Bobylev at the Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in St. Petersburg.

The prediction is based on analysis of data from the European Space Agency’s Hipparcos astrometric spacecraft, which measured velocities of almost 120,000 stars in the early 1990s, as well as some recent data.

Bobylev analyzed the measured movements of about 35,000 stars in our neighborhood in the time interval from 2 million years in the past to 2 million years in the future. It resulted in adding nine new stars to the list of those which experience close encounters with the Solar system – either in the past or in the future, he reports in a paper published on arXiv.org website.

GL 710 was already known to have a scheduled rendezvous with us. However, Bobylev’s analysis indicates a high chance of passing closer than expected. It even has one chance in 1,000 of approaching close enough to significantly affect objects within the Kuiper Belt, i.e. planets, moons and asteroids. This could be bad news for our descendants.

The Oort Cloud is a hypothetical cloud of comets on the solar system’s boundaries, stretching about one light year away from the sun.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

What a way to wreck and perfectly nice weekend.

Gee, like the woman said about Obama’s election, “I won’t have to pay my bills”.

Maybe the author actually meant “Mork from Ork”.

Pam Dawber was as hot as a shooting star.

[Atchafalaya]

Again, Bush/Cheny/Rove have doomed us!

[rottndog]

“Of course we are not talking about one star ‘ramming’ into another. Such an event is almost impossible. But during a close encounter, a passing star’s gravity field may affect objects in the Solar system. For instance, it can cause a comet shower, which would reach the region of big planets. Some authors believe comet bombardments in Earth’s past to be results of such showers,” Bobylev commented for RT.

I wonder how much of an effect a near star encounter like this will have on cloud formation....the Earth may very well be frozen over long before it was struck by comets thrown into a collision course with us.

[101voodoo]

"Trilithium is a synthetic compound that is an explosive of tremendous power. More importantly, however, it acts as an inhibitor of nuclear reactions, such as the fusion processes within the interior of stars. Even a small amount of trilithium is sufficient to halt all nuclear fusion in a star, resulting in a quantum implosion. The star would collapse under its own mass..."

No sh*t?

[liberateUS]

I thought trilithium is what you prescribed for severe bi-polars!

[101voodoo]

"I thought trilithium is what you prescribed for severe bi-polars!"

Nah, there's nothing wrong with them. That crap about them floating, stranded on icebergs was a hoax of the GW crowd. All the polars are fine, not just the bi ones. :-)

[RandallFlagg]

"I mean why did Soran capture Geordi in the first place? He already knew all about Trilithium. He already built his rocket."

[omega4179]

lets get this straight, they are at earth the center of the federation and they are only have one ship around?