15 mind-blowing events that you'll never get to see in your lifetime
Humans have existed for only a fraction of the universe's lifespan and our own individual lives are an even smaller blip within that, so there's bound to be countless mind-blowing and world-changing events that we'll miss in the future.
It's often hard to keep up with how much can happen within just a century of history let alone hundreds of years, and with how much the world appears to be rapidly accelerating every decade, who knows what will be achieved before we all die.
Certain billionaires appear to believe that it won't be long until humans are living in space – important a decision made by choice as opposed to necessity – yet there remains still countless natural events that we know will happen long after we're gone, and YouTube's own science and space expert AstroKobi has revealed 15 of the most impressive.
Asteroid hitting Earth
Before the recent scare involving 'city killer' 2024 YR4 that had many scientists preparing for the worst, there was Apophis which was discovered back in 2004. It was originally proposed to have a small chance of striking Earth, but that has recently been disproven.
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Instead, it will pass within 32,000 kilometers of our planet in April 2029, and has virtually no chance of striking Earth within the next century. However, after that who knows what will happen.
A habitable Chernobyl
The Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster is one of the worst of its kind in modern history, and has left the surrounding area a wasteland that people are advised not to enter. As a result, it won't be until officially deemed habitable until the year 22,000 according to scientific estimates, and even the oldest people to ever life will be long gone by then.
Voyager contact
NASA's Voyager program was launched in 1977 and has captured some of the most important data from planets within our solar system, yet it won't be until the year 40,000 that the spacecraft finally encounters another star.
If it does though, and if it managed to cross the paths of some distant aliens, it will be able to hand over the 'golden record' which has pictures and sounds from Earth, alongside directions to bring it back here.
Magnetic field flip
Earth's magnetic field is long overdue a flip, and while this could technically happen any day now as it has been over double the expected 300,000-year time period that it usually happens, the chances are that it's not going to happen when we're all still alive.
If it were to strike though the impact would be devastating, as it would take out most, if not all of the world's power systems, throwing modern life into absolute chaos.
Visible supernova
Within the next million years it's expected that either Antares or Betelgeuse – two stars close in proximity to Earth – will go supernova, causing a mind-blowing light show for several months in the sky. Once again, this could happen any time, but the chances of that occurring soon are very slim.
Moon footprints disappear
The footprints of Apollo 11 astronauts on the Moon are arguably the most iconic 'landmark' outside of Earth and among the most famous photographs ever taken.
However, these are not permanently etched into the surface of our nearby space rock, but instead will disappear after around 10 million years thanks to impacts from micro asteroids on the Moon's surface.
Planets gain and lose their rings
Saturn's iconic rings make the planet instantly recognisable within our solar system, yet within the next 100 million years they will eventually disappear as the icy rocks are pulled into the planet in a process known as 'ring rain'.
Conversely, Mars will start to gain a ring of its own as one of its nearby moons breaks apart, so where one planet loses its signature, it's soon found elsewhere in the universe.
Extinction asteroid
While the dangers outlined by Apophis earlier were enough to wipe out an entire city, Earth will likely be hit by what's known as an 'extinction asteroid' in around 180 million years, destroying the entire planet in the process. Probably for the best that we're not hanging around for that.
Gamma ray burst
Following on the trajectory of Earth-destroying events, a gamma ray burst (GRB for short) is estimated to occur every 500 million years by scientists, and this will unleash as much energy as the Sun's entire existence in just a matter of seconds.
As you can imagine, this won't be good news for the Earth's surface, and if the extinction asteroid hasn't already done enough damage then this GRB will definitely finish the job off.
Galaxies collide
Looking at the even bigger picture, in around 4.5 billion years scientists expect our galaxy – the Milky Way – to collide with nearby galaxy Andromeda, which is currently around 2.5 million light years away but creeping ever closer.
Days become longer
While there might not be any humans left to observe it, our days on Earth will become ever longer as the Moon slowly edges away from Earth. This happens by a few inches every single year, and that has a direct impact on our planet's rotation, meaning that the further away it creeps over billions of years, the more this will have a noticeable impact.
The end of the Sun
In around 5 billion years time the Sun will eventually begin to die, as the hydrogen that fuses in the star's core runs out, causing its gravitational forces to compress and expand to the point where it takes over our galaxy, destroying everything in its path.
Degenerate and Black Hole eras
Looking even further into the far distant future of 100 trillion years, we will eventually reach what's referred to as the 'Degenerate' era. Within this period no new stars will be born as all hydrogen fuel has been used, leaving the universe solely populated by black holes, white dwarfs, brown dwarfs, and neutron stars.
Following on from this, neutron decay occurs leaving nothing apart from black holes in the universe, and this 'era' lasts for an undetermined amount of time but will thankfully occur trillions of years beyond the point that humans are expected to exist.