Chance that planets might collide

[astroron (Ron)]

The chance that the planets Venus or Mars might collide with the Earth in a billion or so years time an Astronomer from the Paris Observatory has postulated.
One thing the he seems not to have taken into effect is the growing Diameter of the Sun
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8093005.stm

[sheeny (Al)]

Hmmm I'm a skeptic...

Al.

[erick (Eric)]

A "tiny chance" in not less than billions of years!!

OMG! No more buying green bananas for me!

[Baddad (Marty)]

Hi Ron,

One thing the he seems not to have taken into effect is the growing Diameter of the Sun

I agree, But being the hub is it going to have a significant effect on the wobble as the planets themselves have? ( A billion years ) I'm not about to start holding my breath anyway.

Cheers Marty

[Robh (Rob)]

I'd be more worried about asteroids than this unlikely event.

Regards, Rob

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Well if its any consolation, the 'Mars is bigger than the Moon' email will finally be true

[space oddity]

Given that our moon was probably formed by an impact with a Mars sized object 4 billion years ago, we may score ourselves a second moon. This may well appeal to Bart Simpson. Mind you, the human race is highly unlikely to be around in 1 billion years time as we are such a fragile species really. Next supervolcano eruption and urban humans in particular will be history.Seeing conditions will be hopeless, the volcanic ash will scratch mirrors.Last supervolcano eruption in Indonesia about 75,000 years ago wiped out almost all the human population. Only about 20-100 survived to repopulate and now maybe destroy the earth.

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Should read some of the comments on the ABC website in relation to this story
Not taken too seriously, and rightly so
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...11/2594948.htm

[bobson (Bob)]

Well, lets sit and wait for it

[Stuart78 (Stuart)]

Even if it was correct, over a few billion years for it to happen, why even bother covering this, old Sol will be just about on it's last leg by then anyhow lol..









Stu>>

[NeilW]

Well, lets sit and wait for it

Now I'm worried about hemorrhoids rather than asteriods

[TrevorW]

I would hope that in a billion years man if the ystill exist and have advanced would be able to stop it happening

I'm an optimist

Yes at my age I'm more concerned about haemorrhoids or how to spell it

Cheers

[avandonk]

The planets orbits are chaotic. Any very long term prediction is dubious. The Sun will start to get hotter (in about two billion years) and evaporate our oceans before this predicted motion even has a chance of happening. So there is no need to worry YET!

The point of the paper was the refining of predicting and/or calculating chaotic orbital motions.

Bert

[Jen]

Originally Posted by AstroJunk

Well if its any consolation, the 'Mars is bigger than the Moon' email will finally be true