Re: Destroying the Solar System?

Wasn't it James W who wrote:
So I've been toying with a thought experiment/story idea. I'll likely
be asking a few more questions in the near future about more details,
but the initial idea was building an interstellar colony ship, using
today's technology. The reason for doing so would be to, essentially,
evacuate the solar system--to get humanity out before the whole system
went to hell.

Now, I know that's a hell of a plot device, but are there any somewhat-
plausible disasters that could require leaving the entire solar
system? That is, not just "we have to leave Earth, but we can set up
shop on Mars or the Belt." Destroying, or rendering utterly
uninhabitable, the entire system.

And to make it more fun, it needs to happen within, say, a hundred
years (at most).

Any suggestions? Colliding black holes? Colliding stars? A really,
really big chunk of antimatter?

This is, as I said, really a plot device, so the *likelihood* of this
disaster happening can be very small; I was just wondering if there
was anything plausible (remotely).

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, guys.


I can't think of anything more plausible than the threat of the solar
system being eaten by an enormous mutant star goat. It worked for
Golgafrincham.

Any realistic local threat (like a passing star or black hole impacting
the Sun) that could destroy the solar system within 100 years would
already be clearly visible.

Any non-local threat (like a nearby supernova or GRB) would destroy the
colony ship too. Using near future technology, the ship would still be
quite close to the solar system after 100 years. If the radiation is
strong enough to punch through Earth's atmosphere, it would still be
strong enough to punch through a colony ship hull a few light-months
away.

--
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: What if hypervelocity star came near Sun?
    ... Neglecting the gravitational effects. ... What happens to the interacting solar winds/magnetic fields of the two ... For the magnetic field, yes this can to change the magnetic field of ... the path of the star and too the type ...
    (sci.astro)
  • Re: black hole is an oximoron
    ... >> solar plexus: ... >>>because the black hole have so big ... >is there for sure that a collapding star ... it must collapse. ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: solar video
    ... I spent a whole morning by imaging our Star with a little achromatic ... and then I composed a little video ... see the solar granulation changing fastly in few minutes, ... www.danielegasparri.com\sun_detail.avi (detail of central disk) ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Destroying the Solar System?
    ... evacuate the solar system--to get humanity out before the whole system ... Now, I know that's a hell of a plot device, but are there any somewhat- ... replicating out of control, consuming the solar system. ... Your protagonists were already working on the colony ship, manage to effectively quarantine and protect your ship and then get the hell out of Dodge before sheer volume of replication gets past your security. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • Re: Grand Canyon Creationist Book
    ... handful of people on this tiny planet in our solar system---one star out ...
    (sci.geo.geology)