Potential Space Disasters That SCARE Astronomers

 the night sky  is dotted with countless stars that look  so peaceful  but lurking in the deep dark recesses of  the universe lies silent  deadly ticking time bombs cosmic  assassins with so much raw potential  power  when they strike it could mean the end  of planet earth  welcome to  and we're going  to give you another 10 reasons to be  nervous  in 10 terrifying space disasters waiting  to happen  number 10 asteroids while asteroids are  formed close to stars and are generally  made up of a combination of metals and  rocky materials  they can group together in belts but  also alarmingly  can break away as rogues and be shot out  into space  all by their lonesome almost 5 000  asteroids are close enough to the earth  to pose a threat  with 2000 making it onto the watch list  of the near earth objects observation  program  these troublesome balls of rock have hit  home millions of years in the past  namely during the cretaceous extinction  event where one-fifth of all animal  species were lost  as well as the end permian extinction  event widely regarded as the greatest  single disaster in our earth's lifetime  frighteningly we have had similar rocks  hurtle down to earth in modern history  as is the case with the tunguska event  and the cella brinks meteor  number 9 1950 d.a near near-earth  asteroid  coming in at over 1.3 kilometers in  diameter and with a mass of 40 billion  tons  1950 da is a doozy if it impacted the  earth  the explosive force will exceed the  total of all the nuclear weapons in  every arsenal around the world combined  and then some  its orbit is bringing the asteroid close  to earth and will at some point in the  future be so close  it has astronomers biting their  fingernails down to the quicks  in 2032 it will approach within 11.3  million kilometers which may sound like  a long distance but it's not  think of it as being 1 6 the distance to  mars  if we live long enough and the earth  survives human habitation  there's a 1 in 8 300 chance it will  directly collide with us in the year  2880  if the asteroid impacts into the pacific  ocean it will create a shock wave that  will whip the seas into 120 meter high  waves  slamming a wall of water higher than a  30 story building into our coast  number 8 apophis asteroid back in 2004  a 450 meter diameter asteroid was  discovered and apophis was given a  danger level score of  4 out of 10 on the torino scale it has a  1  probability of colliding with the earth  in 2029 when it comes within a hair of  the earth  just 31 000 kilometers away  it'll be close enough for people to  observe it with the naked eye  without the use of telescopes 7.  2010 rf12 there is a 5  or 1 in 20 chance that 2010 rf12  will collide with us in the year 2095  it's a baby as far as asteroids go  tipping the scales at a mere  500 tons but this tiny rock will produce  9  kilotons of explosive energy on impact  the equivalent energy of around 60  percent of the nuclear bomb dropped on  hiroshima  while it's not world ending it's still  extremely significant and able to wipe  out millions of people off the face of  the planet if it makes landfall in a  densely populated area  number six falling comic comics contain  ice and dust and as a result of their  formation in the deep void of space  characterized by their long tail they  get as they pass by a heat source and  the ice melts to liquid water  the biggest difference to asteroids  however is in the orbit patterns  asteroids grouped together in belts  orbiting close to a star or planet  comets are completely different in the  fact that their orbits are extremely  long and wide sometimes complete in a  journey fifty thousand times the  distance from the earth to the sun  number 5 swift tuttle the swift tuttle  comet is  massive and has a real chance of  smashing into the earth  it's still a long way off and won't be a  problem until the year 4479  but scarily this is the same time that  is passed between the modern day and 500  bc  the time of the philosopher confucius  the birth of the buddhist religion  the rise of the iron age celts in the  height of the ancient greek empire  so it's not actually that far away in  terms of the lifespan of civilized homo  sapien man  it would slam into the earth with 300  times the force of the meteor that wiped  out the dinosaurs from the face of the  planet  meaning that no organism would survive  well  maybe with the exception of a few  species of extremophile bacteria or  hearty microbial life such as tartar  jeers or water bears  nature's true cockroach it's not only  this huge  impact which would do damage it's the  trailing tale of meteorites dust and  other matter that would normally burn up  in our atmosphere  but at this close range would pepper the  earth with a shower of armageddon-like  proportions  the end result would be an uninhabitable  frozen rock where our blue-green earth  used to be  number four solar flare from the  perspective of the surface of the earth  the sun appears to have a fairly  uniform shape and size putting out a  constant rate of heat and light that  plants need to grow and support the  massive terrestrial and aquatic  ecosystems on earth that we ourselves  are part of  the truth cannot be anything more  different the surface of the sun is an  ever-changing mixture of cold spots and  solar flares that spew forth large  quantities of  ultraviolet radiation x-rays ionizing  radiation and electromagnetic energy  if that sounds scary that's because it  is  when this eruption of energy meets the  delicate atmosphere of the earth  it creates geomagnetic storms which can  be quite pretty in the case of the  southern and northern lights phenomena  but the huge electromagnetic disruption  would wipe out every device and  electrical circuit across the globe  and the sky would light up as an eerie  green as far afield as the equator  not to mention the huge amount of  radiation our bodies would absorb  and the inevitable damage to our dna  structure  welcome to the dark ages three  star explosion or supernova at the end  of their lives  stars run out of the fuel necessary to  sustain the nuclear fusion reactions in  their cores  they eventually swell outwards engulfing  planets and nearby celestial bodies  until they eventually undergo supernova  this cosmic event releases  energy radiation and heat in an  explosion so gigantic that its  luminosity briefly outshines the rest of  the entire universe  number two cosmic rays following a  supernova the expansion of a ring of  harmful gamma radiation spreads out  across the cosmos in a disruptive wave  if a close enough star to earth dies the  resultant band of electromagnetic  radiation  could literally shift our magnetic axis  strip away our atmosphere  and leave our planet an inert ball of  rock totally incapable of supporting  life as we know it  picture the desolation of the moon only  bigger  number one beetlejuice 650 light years  away sits the star  beetlejuice and no we're not talking  about that hit movie from the 80s about  a poor deceased married couple  tormented by a malicious spirit with a  white face and green hair  beetlejuice the star is currently in its  final stage  a hypermassive red giant that's on the  tipping point of going supernova  granted the radiation from such an  explosion would take millions of years  to reach our planet but it would almost  certainly spell our doom  so there you have it we hope you don't  have too many nightmares tonight  thinking about the myriad of cosmic  nasties out there  it's probably best not to think about it  after all ignorance is bliss  if you love our content please let us  know in the comment section below why  not give us a like and subscribe while  you're at it so you don't miss out on  any of our other amazing content