End of Times! How Close Are We?

The Collision of the Asteroids

Author Zahid Ikram

In the history of Earth, many asteroids (any of numerous small celestial bodies composed of rock and metal that move around the sun, mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter) have actually collided with our planet earth. In fact, it is common. Every day, over 100 small space rocks the size of grapefruits or basketballs are captured by Earth’s gravity. If they are so captured, we call them meteoroids (any of the small solid extraterrestrial bodies that hits the earth's atmosphere).

NASA, ESA and Other Space Agencies from many countries are now watching the skies to make sure that we are not taken by surprise if another large asteroid heads our way. The project is called the NEO Near Earth Objects Program.

Most of meteoroids burn up and melt from friction as they enter and pass through Earth’s protective atmosphere. If they actually enter Earth’s atmosphere, we call them shooting stars or meteors.

What Quran says about the safe sky…?

سُوۡرَةُ الاٴنبیَاء
وَجَعَلۡنَا ٱلسَّمَآءَ سَقۡفً۬ا مَّحۡفُوظً۬ا‌ۖ وَهُمۡ عَنۡ ءَايَـٰتِہَا مُعۡرِضُونَ (٣٢)
Al-Anbiya 21:32-33
And we have made the sky a roof withheld (from them). Yet they turn away from its portents. (32)  

سُوۡرَةُ الاٴنبیَاء

اور آسمان کو محفوظ چھت بنایا۔ اس پر بھی وہ ہماری نشانیوں سے منہ پھیر رہے ہیں (۳۲)

 

سُوۡرَةُ إبراهیم
يَوۡمَ تُبَدَّلُ ٱلۡأَرۡضُ غَيۡرَ ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتُ‌ۖ وَبَرَزُواْ لِلَّهِ ٱلۡوَٲحِدِ ٱلۡقَهَّارِ (٤٨)
Abraham 14:48
On the day when the earth will be changed to other than the earth, and the heavens (also will be changed) and they will come forth unto Allah, the One, the Almighty, (48)
سُوۡرَةُ إبراهیم
جس دن یہ زمین دوسری زمین سے بدل دی جائے گی اور آسمان بھی (بدل دیئے جائیں گے) اور سب لوگ خدائے یگانہ وزبردست کے
سامنے نکل کھڑے ہوں گے (۴۸)

سُوۡرَةُ المُلک
ءَأَمِنتُم مَّن فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ أَن يَخۡسِفَ بِكُمُ ٱلۡأَرۡضَ فَإِذَا هِىَ تَمُورُ (١٦) أَمۡ أَمِنتُم مَّن فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ أَن يُرۡسِلَ عَلَيۡكُمۡ حَاصِبً۬ا‌ۖ فَسَتَعۡلَمُونَ كَيۡفَ نَذِيرِ (١٧)
Al-Mulk 67:16-17
Have ye taken security from Him Who is in the heaven that He will not cause the earth to swallow you when lo! it is convulsed? (16) Or have ye taken security from Him Who is in the heaven that He will not let loose on you a hurricane? But ye shall know the manner of My warning. (17)
سُوۡرَةُ المُلک
کیا تم اس سے جو آسمان میں ہے بےخوف ہو کہ تم کو زمین میں دھنسا دے اور وہ اس وقت حرکت کرنے لگے (۱۶) کیا تم اس سے جو آسمان میں ہے نڈر ہو کہ تم پر کنکر بھری ہوا چھوڑ دے۔ سو تم عنقریب جان لو گے کہ میرا ڈرانا

Asteroid-Belt

Yet here, in this hostile, lonely, freezing place, a huge population of Solar System objects exists. They number in the billions and are very old. They are the Asteroids, space rocks that formed from the same nebula materials that created the Earth and Sun and all of the planets. In Quran it is mentioned many time that men and stones will be fuel in hell…prepared for disbelievers.

The space rocks come in all sizes. They are made mostly of solid rock, with a coating of dust. Some are dark in color, others much lighter. Most have craters from other impacts. Because they are still close enough to the sun’s heat to evaporate water, and because their gravity is usually too low to hold onto much liquid or gas, most asteroids have little frozen ice on their surfaces. However, some of the bigger asteroids with significant gravity do have ice in quantity.

Asteroids exist in the Asteroid Belt, The region of interplanetary space between Mars and Jupiter where most asteroids are found.

In Asteroid Belt billions of space rocks large and small orbit our Sun here. Some are hundreds of miles in diameter. Some are the size of large cities or big mountains. Most, however, are small, ranging from the size of buildings and cars to soccer balls and marbles.

They formed here at the birth of our Solar System 4.6 billion years ago. Over time, they might have come together by gravity to form another planet except … scientists believe that the presence of Jupiter’s gravity prevented a planet from forming. The Belt is quite thin.

Let’s examine one of the Solar System’s larger asteroids:
A funny-shaped asteroid named Gaspra is a large beige colored space rock about 9 km (5½ miles) wide.

سُوۡرَةُ القَمَر
ٱقۡتَرَبَتِ ٱلسَّاعَةُ وَٱنشَقَّ ٱلۡقَمَرُ (١) وَإِن يَرَوۡاْ ءَايَةً۬ يُعۡرِضُواْ وَيَقُولُواْ سِحۡرٌ۬ مُّسۡتَمِرٌّ۬ (٢)
Al-Qamar The Moon 54:1-2
The hour drew nigh and the moon was rent in twain. (1) And if they behold a portent they turn away and say: Prolonged illusion. (2)
سورة القَمَر
قیامت قریب آ پہنچی اور چاند شق ہوگیا (۱) اور اگر (کافر) کوئی نشانی دیکھتے ہیں تو منہ پھیر لیتے ہیں اور کہتے ہیں کہ یہ ایک ہمیشہ کا جادو ہے (۲)

Gaspra is a common asteroid. The Asteroid Belt is full of similar rocks, all moving at high speeds through the vast emptiness of space. However, it is not the biggest asteroid. Until recently, the biggest “asteroid” was named “Ceres”. At 900 km (580 miles) in diameter, it is spherical and orbits the sun here in the Asteroid Belt. Under the new “Dwarf Planet” definition, however, Ceres is now a Dwarf Planet”.Another large asteroid is Vesta (560 km). Recently, even bigger objects have been discovered far beyond the orbit of Pluto. They also meet the new definition of dwarf planets.

Ceres may now be a “Dwarf Planet”, but it is essentially a big rock, pockmarked with thousands of holes called “Craters”, these craters are caused by other asteroids and space rocks slamming into Ceres at high speed over billions of years and leaving dents in the surface. Ceres is moving fast as its orbits the Sun. It is traveling over 11 miles/sec (18 km/s).

سُوۡرَةُ القَمَر
ٱقۡتَرَبَتِ ٱلسَّاعَةُ وَٱنشَقَّ ٱلۡقَمَرُ (١) وَإِن يَرَوۡاْ ءَايَةً۬ يُعۡرِضُواْ وَيَقُولُواْ سِحۡرٌ۬ مُّسۡتَمِرٌّ۬ (٢)
وَڪَذَّبُواْ وَٱتَّبَعُوٓاْ أَهۡوَآءَهُمۡ‌ۚ وَڪُلُّ أَمۡرٍ۬ مُّسۡتَقِرٌّ۬ (٣) وَلَقَدۡ جَآءَهُم مِّنَ ٱلۡأَنۢبَآءِ مَا فِيهِ مُزۡدَجَرٌ (٤)
[The Moon 054:1-4]
The Hour (of Judgment) is nigh, and the moon is cleft asunder.
But if they see a Sign, they turn away, and say, "This is (but) transient magic."
They reject (the warning) and follow their (own) lusts but every matter has its appointed time. There have already come to them Recitals wherein there is (enough) to check (them),
سُوۡرَةُ القَمَر
قیامت قریب آ پہنچی اور چاند شق ہوگیا (۱) اور اگر (کافر) کوئی نشانی دیکھتے ہیں تو منہ پھیر لیتے ہیں اور کہتے ہیں کہ یہ ایک ہمیشہ کا جادو ہے (۲) اور انہوں نے جھٹلایا اور اپنی خواہشوں کی پیروی کی اور ہر کام کا وقت مقرر ہے (۳) اور ان کو ایسے حالات (سابقین) پہنچ چکے ہیں جن میں عبرت ہے (۴)

Occasionally, big asteroids collide with each other in space. When that happens, they can break into smaller pieces, or they can be knocked off their former course and head in a new direction. Both possibilities occur in space. Once in a great while, an asteroid finds itself knocked into a new orbital path headed toward the Sun and planets of the inner Solar System, including Earth.

Let’s visit another asteroid. It is an unusual one called Ida.

 

5-10 bigger asteroid rocks, however, don’t completely melt and are able to reach the ground every day. If they do hit the ground, we call them meteorites. When they hit, they can leave holes or craters in the ground. Most meteorites go unnoticed, but one or two each year crash inside populated areas. They even hit houses and cars. No human has ever been killed by one that we know of, but several years ago, a dog was hit and killed by a meteorite, and a woman had one crash through her house roof and land in her lap (it bruised her legs badly, but she survived).

In 1983, a piece of an asteroid slammed into the trunk of a car parked in a driveway in New Jersey, and in 2003, a meteorite crashed through the roof of a home in Texas and came to rest in the downstairs family room.

Every few million years, a “BIG” asteroid the size of a mountain falls to Earth like a giant cannon ball. When it hits, the damage can be horrible. The last such impact occurred about 100 years ago.

In 1908, an asteroid or comet impacted an isolated area of Siberia (part of Russia). No one was living there at the time, but the impact destroyed thousands of square miles of forest, and killed thousands of animals and birds. Find more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

Quran warn about these incidents many times…

 

سُوۡرَةُ سَبَإ
أَفَلَمۡ يَرَوۡاْ إِلَىٰ مَا بَيۡنَ أَيۡدِيهِمۡ وَمَا خَلۡفَهُم مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِۚ إِن نَّشَأۡ نَخۡسِفۡ بِهِمُ ٱلۡأَرۡضَ أَوۡ نُسۡقِطۡ عَلَيۡہِمۡ كِسَفً۬ا مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِۚ إِنَّ فِى ذَٲلِكَ لَأَيَةً۬ لِّكُلِّ عَبۡدٍ۬ مُّنِيبٍ۬ (٩)
Sheba 34:9
Have they not observed what is before them and what is behind them of the sky and the earth? If We will, We can make the earth swallow them, or cause obliteration from the sky to fall on them. Lo! herein surely is a portent for every slave who turneth (to Allah) repentant. (9)
سُوۡرَةُ سَبَإ
کیا انہوں نے اس کو نہیں دیکھا جو ان کے آگے اور پیچھے ہے یعنی آسمان اور زمین۔ اگر ہم چاہیں تو ان کو زمین میں دھنسا دیں یا ان پر آسمان کے ٹکڑے گرا دیں۔ اس میں ہر بندے کے لئے جو رجوع کرنےوالا ہے ایک نشانی ہے (۹)

سُوۡرَةُ النَّمل
وَتَرَى ٱلۡجِبَالَ تَحۡسَبُہَا جَامِدَةً۬ وَهِىَ تَمُرُّ مَرَّ ٱلسَّحَابِ‌ۚ صُنۡعَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَتۡقَنَ كُلَّ شَىۡءٍ‌ۚ إِنَّهُ ۥ خَبِيرُۢ بِمَا تَفۡعَلُونَ (٨٨)
The Ant 27:88
And thou seest the hills thou deemest solid flying with the flight of clouds: the doing of Allah Who perfecteth all things. Lo! He is Informed of what ye do. (88)
سُوۡرَةُ النَّمل
اور تم پہاڑوں کو دیکھتے ہو تو خیال کرتے ہو کہ (اپنی جگہ پر) کھڑے ہیں مگر وہ (اس روز) اس طرح اُڑے پھریں گے جیسے بادل۔ (یہ) خدا کی کاریگری ہے جس نے ہر چیز کو مضبوط بنایا۔ بےشک وہ تمہارے سب افعال سے باخبر ہے (۸۸)

سُوۡرَةُ الشّوریٰ
تَكَادُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتُ يَتَفَطَّرۡنَ مِن فَوۡقِهِنَّ‌ۚ وَٱلۡمَلَـٰٓٮِٕكَةُ يُسَبِّحُونَ بِحَمۡدِ رَبِّہِمۡ وَيَسۡتَغۡفِرُونَ لِمَن فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ‌ۗ أَلَآ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلۡغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ (٥)
The Counsel 42:5
Almost might the heavens above be rent asunder while the angels hymn the praise of their Lord and ask forgiveness for those on the earth. Lo! Allah, He is the Forgiver, the Merciful. (5)
سُوۡرَةُ الشّوریٰ
قریب ہے کہ آسمان اوپر سے پھٹ پڑیں اور فرشتے اپنے پروردگار کی تعریف کے ساتھ اس کی تسبیج کرتے رہتے ہیں اور جو لوگ زمین میں ہیں ان کے لئے معافی مانگتے رہتے ہیں۔ سن رکھو کہ خدا بخشنے والا مہربان ہے

The collision of asteroids may occur in near future. In the history of Earth many asteroids have actually collided with our world.

End of Times... How Close are We?
There are some very speculative ideas and facts about the future of life on earth, destruction of our solar system, Galaxies and whole Universe...

The Collision of the Asteroids
Extinction Level Event (ELE)
Collision of Near Earth Objects (NEO)
Life Cycle of Sun
Super Solar Storm
Gama Rays Burst & Betelgeuse Goes Hyper-Nova.
Heat Death
Big Rip
Big Crunch