• Question: When will the earth end

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      Asked by Ciaran McL to Sinead, Neil, Mark, Florence, Anne on 13 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by Kate.
      • Photo: Neil Day

        Neil Day answered on 13 Nov 2015:

        Hi Ciaran McL – very good question
        If we don’t wipe ourselves out through lack of food or some disease epidemic or the earth getting hit by a gigantic asteroid then it’s dependant on when the sun dies out.
        At some point it will cool and expand it what’s know as a ‘red giant’. At this point when it expands, it will more likely engulf the earth. I wouldn’t get too worried though as the sun will probably last for another 5 billion years before this happens.

      • Photo: Florence McCarthy

        Florence McCarthy answered on 15 Nov 2015:

        Could be tomorrow if a big enough asteroid chances our way but it’s likely to be billions of years until the sun burns out or the earth stops spinning.

      • Photo: Sinead Balgobin

        Sinead Balgobin answered on 16 Nov 2015:

        Astronomically, not for a few billion years, when the sun dies. The earth as we know it could be ended much sooner, but it’s unpredictable- maybe war, disease, famine, a cataclysmic weather event or earthquake, an asteroid… who knows?

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