Tag

Earth

All articles tagged with #earth

space2 days ago•104 min saved

Earth Could Outsmart the Sun's Final Farewell, New Study Finds

New models of how aging stars interact with nearby planets suggest Earth could avoid being engulfed as the Sun swells into a red giant. The study finds that weaker tidal forces and mass loss from the Sun could allow Earth (and Mars) to migrate outward, while Mercury and Venus are still doomed to be swallowed. The outcome depends on uncertain mass-loss rates during the Sun’s final stages; with current data, Earth’s survival is possible but not guaranteed, and more observations of sun-like giants are needed, the team reports in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

via Space|

#astronomy #earth #planetary-systems

science4 days ago•52 min saved

Earth’s Green Horizon: Plants Could Endure for 1.87 Billion Years, Study Says

A study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres uses 3D climate models to project Earth's vegetative biosphere over the next 2 billion years. It finds the last plant could linger about 1.84–1.87 billion years from now as the Sun brightens; under a strong CO2-weathering cycle, CO2 drops and plants die around 1.84 billion years, while in a weak-weathering scenario temperatures rise to about 65°C, pushing land plants to extinction about 1.87 billion years out. The researchers caution that evolution or human tech could extend plant survival beyond these limits, and the simulations do not account for future plant adaptation or geoengineering possibilities.} } }**Note: There is an extraneous closing tokens at the end due to formatting; correct JSON would end after the closing brace.** However, in this response, the essential fields are provided.** (If you’d like, I can present the strictly formatted JSON payload.)**}

via Yahoo|

#climate #co2 #earth

science9 days ago•118 min saved

Earth’s life could endure 1.8 billion more years as the sun brightens

A new study in Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, using 29 climate models, suggests Earth’s vegetative biosphere could persist for about 1.8 billion years as the Sun brightens and oceans are lost, extending far beyond earlier estimates. The researchers account for varying CO2 levels and plant types (including CAM plants like succulents and orchids) and emphasize that this is a broad projection; evolutionary adaptations could further extend or shorten life’s persistence. The work refines understanding of biosphere longevity and has implications for studying habitability on other worlds.

via Live Science|

#biosphere #climate-models #earth

science9 days ago•53 min saved

JWST reveals planets may survive their star’s death

A James Webb Space Telescope study of the Jupiter‑sized exoplanet WD 1856 b orbiting a white dwarf shows that planets can survive the death of their star and even migrate inward, with measurements of its mass, temperature, and atmosphere suggesting past heating during the star’s red‑giant phase. This provides a forward glimpse into our solar system’s fate: in about 5 billion years the Sun will become a red giant, likely destroying the inner planets (Mercury, Venus, possibly Earth) while more distant worlds may endure in altered orbits, illustrating that stellar death can reshape—but not necessarily end—planetary systems.

via Yahoo|

#earth #james-webb-space-telescope #science

science-space9 days ago•3 min saved

Earth May Outlast the Sun’s Death, New Study Finds

A new study in Astronomy and Astrophysics suggests Earth could survive the Sun’s 5-billion-year demise, depending on whether tidal forces pull Earth inward or the Sun’s mass loss pushes Earth outward. Observations of the nearby dying star L2 Puppis inform these models, but the outcome remains uncertain and requires better data. Even if Earth endures, the Sun’s increasing heat will make the planet uninhabitable long before the final collapse, and humanity would not survive the event.

via New York Post|

#astronomy #astrophysics #earth

space-and-spaceflight11 days ago•16 min saved

Earth Might Surf the Sun’s Red-Giant Wake, But Humanity Is Doomed

New research suggests Earth could dodge engulfment by the Sun’s red-giant stage if the Sun loses mass quickly enough, causing Earth to drift to a wider orbit around a future white-dwarf Sun; however, life would still be impossible due to increased brightness and heat long before that final phase, with Mercury and Venus assuredly doomed and Mars potentially surviving in a wider orbit.

via Gizmodo|

#astronomy #earth #red-giant

space12 days ago•112 min saved

Earth May Outlive the Sun: A Delicate Cosmic Tug-of-War Could Spare Our World

New stellar-evolution models and observations of a nearby dying star suggest Earth could survive the Sun’s giant phases if solar mass loss dominates over tidal forces, allowing Earth to move outward rather than be engulfed. Mercury and Venus are still expected to meet a fiery end, but the outcome hinges on how much mass the Sun will lose—an uncertainty researchers are currently trying to resolve, with future missions like PLATO expected to help. A Letter to the Editor in Astronomy & Astrophysics outlines these calculations and the remaining questions about Earth’s ultimate fate.

via Live Science|

#earth #planetary-fate #space

science12 days ago•51 min saved

Earth's fate in the Sun's death: a tug-of-war between tides and mass loss

New stellar-evolution models suggest Earth could survive the Sun's expansion into a red giant, depending on whether tidal forces pulling Earth inward or mass loss from the Sun's outer layers dominates. If tides prevail, Earth is engulfed; if mass loss dominates, Earth escapes to a wider orbit. Observations of the nearby dying star L2 Puppis support potential survival for Earth, while Mercury and Venus are likely doomed. Future observations, including ESA's PLATO mission, may provide a clearer answer.

via Yahoo|

#earth #mass-loss #red-giant

sciencespace16 days ago•14 min saved

Space is just up there: Earth's air is an apple-skin-thin shield

A Space Daily explainer shows that the 100-kilometre Kármán line is a regulatory boundary, not a physical cliff; if you drove straight up at highway speed you’d reach space in under an hour, illustrating how incredibly thin Earth's breathable air is. About 99% of the atmosphere’s mass sits in the lowest ~32 km, and by 100 km altitude the air is roughly one millionth as dense as at sea level. The atmosphere’s layered protection—troposphere for life-supporting gases and the ozone-rich stratosphere—makes surface habitability possible, underscoring how the “apple-skin” thickness of the air is truly remarkable.

via Space Daily|

#atmosphere #earth #karman-line

science17 days ago•3 min saved

Earth Could Escape the Sun’s Death by a Cosmic Tug-of-War, Study Finds

New modelling suggests Earth might avoid engulfment by the Sun if solar mass loss dominates tidal dissipation; the planet could drift outward as the Sun expands into a red giant and finally a white dwarf, while Mercury and Venus are still likely to be swallowed and life on Earth would end due to rising luminosity.

via geekspin|

#astronomy #earth #science

science19 days ago•13 min saved

Earth Could Survive the Sun’s Death, New Study Rewrites Its Fate

A new study using refined tidal models and revised solar mass-loss estimates suggests Earth might avoid engulfment by the Sun during its red-giant and asymptotic giant branch phases, potentially widening its orbit enough to stay outside the Sun’s maximum size (Mars may also survive; Mercury and Venus likely wouldn’t). However, habitability would end long before then due to intense solar radiation, and the outcome depends on late-stage mass loss, a quantity still hard to predict, warranting future observations.

via Interesting Engineering|

#astronomy #earth #science

space1 month ago•10 min saved

Mercury Is Earth's Nearest Neighbor on Average Across Orbits

Although Venus is often cited as Earth’s closest planetary neighbor, long‑term averaging of planetary distances shows Mercury stays nearest to Earth overall. Using a point‑circle method and a 10,000‑year orbital simulation, Mercury is closest to Earth about 47% of the time (Venus ~36%, Mars ~17%), and Mercury is the closest planet on average to every other planet as well due to its tight, Sun‑hugging orbit. This doesn’t mean Mercury ever gets closer than Venus at its nearest approach, nor does it change the solar system’s layout; for spacecraft planning, launch geometry and transfer windows remain the practical focus, with Venus and Mars as the near targets.)

via Space Daily|

#astronomy #earth #mercury

space1 month ago•11 min saved

Moon's Gentle Tug Lengthens Earth's Day, Not a Heist

Earth’s rotation is slowing due to tidal interactions with the Moon, lengthening the day while the Moon slowly drifts outward at about 3.8 cm per year. The transfer conserves angular momentum, so nothing is stolen—past days were shorter, with a lengthy pause around 19 hours for roughly a billion years before the gradual increase resumed. The present rate and historical timeline vary with continental configurations and tidal dynamics.

via Space Daily|

#angular-momentum #earth #lunar-recession

science1 month ago•11 min saved

Earth Holds About 3 Trillion Trees, More Than Milky Way’s Stars

A global estimate puts Earth’s trees at about 3 trillion (from the 2015 Crowther study), which is more than the Milky Way’s 100–400 billion stars, though both figures are uncertain estimates; the tree count has fallen roughly 46% since civilization began, with about 15 billion trees lost each year.

via Space Daily|

#astronomy #deforestation #earth

science1 month ago•4 min saved

Laser Ranging Confirms Moon’s Inch-by-Inch Retreat from Earth

Scientists confirm the Moon is slowly moving away from Earth at about 1.5 inches per year. Laser-ranging measurements to lunar mirrors show the average distance of roughly 239,000 miles, with small variations as the Moon’s orbit drifts outward due to tidal forces that transfer Earth's rotational energy to the Moon. This gradual recession has lengthened Earth’s days over billions of years and affects tides; in the long term it will reduce the frequency of total solar eclipses, with some estimates suggesting the last such eclipse could occur about 600 million years from now. The Moon formed around 4.5 billion years ago after a colossal impact, and its ongoing drift reflects the long-term evolution of the Earth–Moon system.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#astronomy #earth #moon