Pellau Magazine

Our beloved Earth was ‘supposed’ to end on 21 December 2012. Some people did think that life will cease to exist but as you know, it didn’t. Some danced with joy while others just thanked God for saving them – but of course there will be a time when this planet of ours will support no more life. Sigh! But that’s how the system of the universe works.

According to a recent report, Earth can sustain life for 1.75 billion years from now, as long as we take care of it rather than destroying it (or some supernatural stuff happens that terminates it). So scientists have set a new time for the anticipated disaster, wait for it!

Should we believe them? Well the prediction is based on research into the aspects that make a planet habitable in the planetary scheme. A habitable planet should have liquid water, which sustains life. Liquid water exists on planets that sit within a certain region around its star. The ability to survive changes due to stars evolving over time, so that a planet can get pushed out of the zone. Water becomes ice if it’s pushed too far and it vaporizes if it gets too close to the star.

Our Earth is sitting on the internal edge of the sun’s habitable zone. Scientists predicted that the zone is moving outwards at about 1 meter per year. They figured out that Earth’s total time in the zone is 6.3 billion to 7.8 billion years. So it’s already about 70% through its life cycle as a livable planet. Let’s hope that in the next billion or so years humankind will find a way to survive away from earth.