Reddit users are sharing the 'scariest' space facts they've ever heard
Reddit users are sharing the 'scariest' space facts they've ever heard
A number of social media users each shared the“scariest space fact/mystery” they could think ofafter a recent prompt on the “Ask Reddit” forum.Here are a few of the top responses — make sure yourfeet are firmly planted on the ground before reading.“The Kessler Effect is the theory that a singledestructive event in low earth orbit could createa cascade where satellites break up into tinyfragments taking out other satellites, breakingup into smaller fragments and so on”.This would continue “ until the earth iscompletely surrounded by a massive cloudof tiny flying death shrapnel which wouldmake leaving this planet almost impossible”.“The speed of light, the fastest speed possible,looks painfully slow when you look at it inthe context of even a fraction of our solarsystem.
We’re stuck here, aren’t we”.One user explained vacuum decay, saying “Matter,as it is, isn’t in its full resting state, and a littlesurge of energy could shift it enough to completelychange chemistry and physics in our universe”.Another explained gamma ray bursts.
“We could behit by one of these with very little warning, and if itwas reasonably close (in universal terms anyway)could wipe us out rapidly or cause a ton of damage”.Finally, a Redditor who claimed to be an astronomer offered “something to worry about”that could reasonably happen in our lifetimes.“May I introduce you to the Carrington Eventof 1859?
Basically, Carrington was a scientistwho noticed a flash from a huge cluster ofsunspots, which was the biggest coronalmass ejection from the sun ever recorded”.It hit Earth within a day- aurora were seen as farsouth as Hawaii, wires on telephone poles burst intoflame, and telegraph operators even reportedcontacting each other when not connected”.If a similar event were to strike Earth today, itwould cause billions of dollars in damage, becauseblown transformers are super hard to replace anda lot of satellites wouldn’t be able to handle it”
