For as long as man has been on Earth we’ve looked up at the night sky. It’s been our everything from the home of our gods, to our source of navigation; man has always used the night sky. But it wasn’t until recent that we’ve learned that the sky also holds the potential to end all life, as we know it. In Philip Plait’s novel “Death from the Skies: The Science Behind the End of the World” he discusses various scenarios in which the world, as we know it, could come to and end.
The book discuses scenarios like supernovas, galactic collisions, asteroids, and black holes swallowing up everything we’ve ever known. The book then discusses the science behind each of these events and the likelihood of them happening. But how devastating would these events really be to earth? What would the effects look like?
Depending on where the supernova is, within light years, it could have a ranging effect on Earth. The most devastating effect would be the destroying of our atmosphere. With our atmosphere being partially destroyed parts of marine life would go extinct thus altering the food chain. Effecting the globe greatly.
The next more dangerous of events would have to be the galactic collisions and asteroids. Both of these events can spell the end of earth depending on the right conditions. In a galactic collision millions of planets are expelled out of their solar systems and become rouge planets, wandering the cosmos endlessly. This of course would kill all life on the surface of Earth, with the possibility of some microbes to live on. The same thing goes for asteroids, depending of the size. Earth could wipe out with one big rock. The universe is a dangerous place to live, better get use to it.
More info on Philip Plait’s book can be found here.
Space Between Us 