Wipe us from the face of the Universe can, for example, the asteroid Apophis. It is named after the ancient Egyptian God of darkness and destruction. Opened in 2004, an asteroid the size corresponds stecajnom skyscraper and weighs 20 million tons.

Fly at a rate hundreds of times faster than a bullet, he is no less energy than all the nuclear weapons on the planet. Astronomers know approximately where is it going. According to their calculations in April 2029 huge boulder will fly in 34-36 million miles from the Earth's surface. It is close enough satellites in earth orbit, hence such an event is dangerous.
on April 13, 2036 Apophis may collide with the Earth, the date reported Professor of the St. Petersburg state University Leonid Sokolov. Fortunately, the probability that Apophis will fall on us, is extremely small, because, approaching the planet, he will be shattered into several pieces..

But the main problem is that in space there is always a block, even greater in size. There are asteroids, which reaches a length of 15 kilometers. The asteroid that size falls on the Earth approximately every hundred million years. The last time this happened 65 million years ago. This catastrophe, probably caused the extinction of dinosaurs. No one knows when will fall next asteroid. But if it is large enough, it can sterilize the planet - and life will disappear.

We can destroy ourselves. Last 10 thousand years on the planet dominates man, the crown of creation. We are proud of our mind, because of him, with great strides goes forward technological progress. He created numerous threats, the most obvious threat of nuclear weapons. For example, there is one chance in a million that during one year will start a nuclear war. But if to multiply the probability 100 thousand years, the probability of war is already equal to one chance out of 10.

WHAT WE HAVE IN STORE FOR THE SUN?

The universe is preparing us with new surprises. The stars are constantly lit and extinguished. In space hundreds of billions of stars, and in every moment somewhere kill a celebrity, exploding supernova. In our Galaxy by supernova is lit every 50 years. Such an explosion could destroy the Earth.

One recently discovered a supernova especially dangerous. It was discovered in 1998. Then the satellites recorded a strong blast of gamma radiation. The radiation source is located quite near to us, in 8 thousand light years from Earth. There is burning star WR 104 at the end of their life.

When she flashes supernova, then discard two tightly focused beam of radiation, one on each pole. Letting out beams, star salmonicida. The danger is that the focus of future ray radiation of the Earth. In the rays will have more energy than the Sun will produce for the whole period of its existence. Opens the path deadly cosmic rays, which can reach the surface of the planet. This disaster has already happened. 450 million years ago, more than half living beings disappeared from the face of the Earth. Then strong radioactive irradiation destroyed the entire ecosystem of the planet.

The planet is getting old. Maybe someday we will have to build a giant sphere of glass and plastic to protect themselves from radiation.

If we look even further into the future, we will understand that all these risks is only the beginning. Solar system inevitably will pass the same way that countless billions of star systems before it, and will cease to exist. Now it is in the middle of his life. But every billion years the Sun is 6% hotter and brighter, in 5 billion years the temperature will rise to 200 million degrees. The earth will become molten stone, and life on it for a long time already will disappear.

But this is not all that was prepared for us was shining. When it runs out of fuel, it starts to expand, developing into the so-called red giant. After about 7 billion years, it will be 200 times more than now, and will reach 300 million kilometers in diameter. Bloated Sun will eat planets one by one.

THE WAY OF SALVATION

So what are we to do? How to be saved? One answer is to find another space house, that is, to move to another space "apartment". For this purpose it is necessary to search the planet where life is possible.

One of the suitable planets - Gliz 581 was opened in 2007 scientists of the European southern Observatory. Large and rocky, it seven times more Land. The planet revolves around a smaller and more red star than the Sun, is at a distance at which the planet can be water. There's atmosphere, however, what it consists of, until you can't tell.

To get there, humanity will have to solve a global problem. Space standards "promised land" is not very far away, at a distance of more than 20 light years. This 180 trillion kilometers. How great is the distance, will help to understand a simple example.

If we take the Gliz on the fastest spacecraft Voyager, which flew by Jupiter and Saturn with the speed of 16.5 km per second, we can reach the Gliz through... 350 thousand years! Well, it's time to fly.

Only new large-scale technologies will help us to survive. If people will be able to build aerial vehicles that can travel long distances, mankind will be saved in another galaxy and survive for many billions of years. However, the known today, the nuclear fuel will not be able to provide enough energy for interstellar missions. It is hoped that humanity will learn new, unprecedented powerful forms of energy, for example, the energy of interaction with antimatter or gravity. But the main one seems still not technological, and financial difficulty. The starship would have enormous value.

There is another hindering factor. Even if the starship will move very quickly, say, 1,000 times faster than the Voyager, still his flight to the nearest star system will last a very long time and will occupy 73 years. So, one generation will have a lifetime to live in space. Whether there will be volunteers? If you would extend the life of man so that man has reached new planet young! Perhaps this will help genetic engineering. It will create the skin, protects from radiation, people will be able to breathe poisoned air and to fight infections, which will meet him in the other realms.

So when will be the end of the world? According to the calculations of cosmology, the universe is 13 billion 700 million years, will cease to exist at the earliest in 30 billion years. So to write a will is still too early.