Scenarios Kiamat: Mereka Percaya Disebabkan 13 Perkara

Near-Earth Objects

Ever since scientists figured out that it was the impact of an asteroid 10 kilometers wide that wiped out the dinosaurs, they've been hunting the skies for species-ending space rocks. An estimated 90 percent of these 3,200-foot-long big boys have been found, although none pose immediate danger. But we've barely begun drawing our map of the smaller rocks and therein lies the real problem. In 1908, an asteroid less than 40 meters wide exploded over Siberia, leveling forests for hundreds of square miles. If that had happened above New York, well, goodbye Gotham.

Black Holes

Stars collapse on an almost daily basis. When a massive star collapses, it produces an immense gravitational pull along the way, drawing everything in its path—including light—toward its core, like a giant vacuum cleaner from which there's no escape. While black holes sit at the center of most galaxies, including our own, the real danger comes from a discovery made in the year 2000. "We now have conclusive evidence," physicist Michael Kaku told ABC News, "that there are wandering black holes—nomads, renegades—and right next to us in our own galaxy." How long until one of these nomads bumps into the Earth? No one is sure, and it's a big universe, but everyone agrees that it's going to happen sooner or later.

Gamma Rays

Gamma-ray bursts are high-energy beams of electromagnetic radiation shot out of a supernova, or exploding star. Researchers say a routine gamma-ray burst within 3,000 light years of the Earth would release more than enough radiation to completely cook our planet. Talk about global warming.

Mini Black Holes

That pesky Large Hadron Collider. It's full of downsides—and none are more disturbing than the possibility of its creating mini black holes. Theoretically, Hawking's radiation should dissolve these holes instantly, but no one knows for certain that Hawking's radiation works on the micro scale. And if it doesn't, that hole can start bouncing around the Earth, essentially dicing the planet into pieces. English astrophysicist Martin Rees said it's a 1-in-50-million chance that it could happen. But what if he's overestimated the odds—or we're just unlucky?

Solar Flares

Solar flares are jets of plasma shooting out of the sun. In 1859, British astronomer Richard Carrington witnessed the greatest one on record: telegraph lines were electrified, shocking technicians, causing fires and shutting the entire system down. Nothing similar has happened since, but solar flares move in cycles and we're due for stormy solar weather sometime circa 2012. This is not good news. A 2009 NASA-funded study by the National Academy of Sciences entitled Severe Space Weather Events said: "A contemporary repetition of the Carrington Event would cause... extensive social and economic disruptions." How extensive? A solar flare coming upon today's vast and interconnected power grid could cause massive outages, radio blackouts, satellite malfunctions, telecommunication-system meltdowns, a banking and financial-systems collapse, air-traffic control screens turned to fuzz—and on and on.

Supervolcano

Supervolcanoes are a bit like Mount Saint Helens on steroids. The explosion of such a giant volcano would pump enough ash and sulfuric acid into the atmosphere to blot out the sun and bring on a sequel to the ice age—and no, we don't mean another one of those animated movies. Scientists calculate that 71,500 years ago, a Sumatran supervolcano exploded, plunging the Earth into a decade-long volcanic winter," the effects of which reduced the total human population to less than 10,000 individuals. Worse, Sumatra's is just one of six known supervolcanos. Another, the largest in the world, is at Yellowstone National Park. Unfortunately, scientists have discovered that Yellowstone's erupts roughly once every 600,000 years, with the last explosion occurring 630,000 years ago—meaning we're a little overdue.

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