How will the Earth End? Part.II

A potential possible danger comes from space debris –comets and asteroids- which may present the most tangible threat to earth as we know it. It was most likely the impact of an asteroid that lead to the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago; another asteroid or comet striking the earth could lead to a similar climatic shift that changes the face of the Planet. On May 19, 1996, an asteroid that measured one third of a mile wide came within 275, 000 miles of earth, just a hair in astronomical distances.

Astronomers have said that it would require an asteroid larger than on kilometer wide to create a global disaster. An estimated 2,000 asteroids larger than one kilometer intersect earth’s orbit; one may strike its surface before 405 billion years, but the question is how long we can continue to play dodge ball. It should be cheering to know that studies are in the offing that might allow us to use nuclear technology to deflect a comet or asteroid.

 So is man’s hope for survival, as depicted by the cold lens of science, fairly bleak?  Maybe.  For all of our best scientific guesses, there are just as many works, including the Bible’s   book of Revelation and Nostradamus's writings, which offer cryptic predictions of what is to come. Trying to match biblical or prophetic forecasts with, modern correlatives has proven tricky, however. For centuries, cult after dooms day cult has predicted a time for Armageddon, only to be disillusioned.

Despite our curiosity and our best educated guesser, only those humans who are alive at the time will know the story of our planet’s endgame; the true story of what happens may catch even them by surprise. At this point, the question of whether the earth will end with a bang or in a whimper stays unanswered.