According to biologists, our planet has experienced five mass extinctions. The reality is that more than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct. According to recent studies, the cycle length of 26 million years, linking the comet rains and the global extinction actually exists. Should we worry about it and not to make plans for the future?
What happened to the dinosaurs?
Conditions on Earth at the time of the dinosaurs was, to put it mildly, so-so. Their disappearance gave rise to many theories suggesting that the ancestors of modern birds threw a giant comet, burned by lava, flooded with incredible size of the tsunami or that they simply suffered from the explosion of a supernova, and possibly even freeze during the ice age.
However, dominant today, the theory of the dinosaurs States that 66 million years ago, fell to Earth a giant asteroid or comet. And in its favor discovered new evidence — scientists have found that there is a relationship between the cyclical rain of comets and mass extinctions of wildlife.
Note to builders: if you Can build a city on an asteroid?
Michael Rampino, a geologist from new York University, and Ken Caldeira, a specialist in the study of the atmosphere of Science at the Carnegie Institute, traces the history of mass extinctions over 260 million years and found a familiar pattern: every 26 million years on the Earth fall of the comet, and then comes extinction.
Why are the rains of comets?
According to the theory Rampino and Caldeira, showers occur due to the fact that the sun and planets of the solar system every 26 million years, pass through the middle of our galaxy. In the heart of the milky way is a lot of different cosmic bodies and dust. When the sun crosses this area, it destroys the huge clouds of cosmic dust. These clouds, in turn, knocked the comet’s orbit, sending them to the Ground.
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When does the next rain of comets?
If Rampia and Caldeira right, following the rain of comets followed by a mass extinction not long to wait. At least for geologicheskom standards. Our little Solar system crossed the middle of the galaxy about 2 million years ago, and now we are moving again in the right direction.
Despite the fact that scientists cannot 100 percent predict the next comet or asteroid, it is believed that killed the dinosaurs heavenly body was at least prominent, even by the standards of mass extinction.
What do you think, are there ways to protect our planet from the rain of comets and asteroids?