rave... would be extremely disturbing if I were to say that I'd pay good money to be in the vicinity of any of those?
On Mon, Sep 6, 2010 at 11:59 AM, Kelwyn <ravena...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > http://www.weirdworm.com/6-extraterrestrial-disasters-that-make-us-glad-we-are-on-earth/ > > Earth has plenty of natural disasters and tragedies; we have tornadoes that > rip up the Midwest yearly, hurricanes that flatten and drown cities, and > volcanic eruptions that evacuate entire island nations. But the rest of the > solar system is a much harsher place, with disasters that would end life as > we know it if they happened here. > > 1. Volcanoes on Io > > Volcanoes are a big deal here on Earth; they are worshiped as gods, and > rightfully feared for their ability to both create and destroy. I haven't > heard of any other natural disaster that has caused entire civilizations to > disappear or to have to pack up and move; In my lifetime I can cite Mt > Pinatubo and Montserrat as two cases where an entire island nation has had > to jump ship because the volcano they lived on tried to kill them. And we > have some doozies; calderas are what we also call super volcanoes, which are > volcanoes that stretch for hundreds of miles and have the power to kill us > all. > > On Jupiter's moon, Io, that kind of thing is a daily occurrence. The stress > of passing through Jupiter's massively powerful magnetic field, along with > being bathed in radiation from the giant planet causes the moon to boil over > with sulfur volcanoes constantly. > > The volcanic explosions can toss material up to 120 miles into the sky, and > generate lava flows that are hundreds of miles long. That would be like > Krakatoa, which changed the world climate for several years after it blew > up, every day, several times a day. Imagine the planet where Anakin > Skywalker got his legs chopped off (you saw Revenge of the Sith, right? Oh, > *SPOILER*), except without an atmosphere, and constantly bathed in > radiation. > > > -- "If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script?" -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
