Worlds Do Collide
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Earth could collide with another plaet or asteroid in a billion years or so.
The 1951 movie "When Worlds Collide" was made real recently, US astronomers said Tuesday, announcing for the first time evidence of such a catastrophic collision has been seen by scientists.
Astronomers from UCLA and CALTECH said the crash involved two planets orbiting a star in the Aries constellation some 300 light years away. One light year is about 5,878,625,373,183.61 (trillion) miles.
"It's as if Earth and Venus collided with each other," said Benjamin Zuckerman, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy.
The prospect of Earth suffering an apocalyptic collision with another planet or asteroid has been fodder for science-fiction writers and film-makers ever since Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer's 1933 novel "When Worlds Collide" that became the 1951 movie.
Collisions have occurred in our solar system's past. Many astronomers believe our moon was formed from the grazing collision of two planetary embryos, the young Earth and a body about the size of Mars, a crash that created tremendous debris, some of which condensed to form the moon and some of which went into orbit around the young sun. The likelihood of such a collision in our solar system is calculated as possible, but not probable, in the next billion years.
So, don't lay awake worrying about it.