Does this mean we could live on it as a refuge if something happened on Earth?
svetty we could not be a refugee because of oxegen
Unfortunately with our current technology, it would take well over 100,000 years to reach the nearest planet that could possibly act as a refuge.
I think that nothing is likely to happen on Earth that would force us to leave though!
Isn’t it possible, for example, for a meteor to be big enough to destroy the planet- maybe if it landed in the ocean causing earthquakes and tsunamis and volcanoes to erupt- and also the gases to cause humans to be in danger? If it isn’t possible to get off earth, could we take refuge inside if we spent hundreds if years building?
I don’t think that a meteor could ever destroy a planet. We think that the Moon formed when a Mars-sized body collided with Earth – but even then the Earth survived, although it was so early in the life of the planet, that everything was molten rock. If that happened now, I think the planet would still survive, but all life on Earth would be incinerated. It’s not going to happen though, thankfully.
A large asteroid of about 10km diameter is what we think wiped out the dinosaurs, but some life still survived. We haven’t had anything that large since and that was 65 million years ago.
On the idea of living underground – that might be one way to survive as a species.
Great questions and discussion svetty!
By BRIDGE8 under license from Mangorolla CIC 2024
svetty
nibbles
Yes! We now know of about 10 planets in what we call the “habitable zone” of the stars they orbit. There are a lot more possible planets where we need more data to confirm them.
The habitable zone (also called the “goldilocks zone) is a region surrounding the star where liquid water – a fundamental building block of life – can exist on the surface of a planet. It’s not too hot, and not too cold, it’s just right! It doesn’t mean that there is life on the planet, but that the conditions are suitable for it!
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wow I had no idea
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