Well the popular theory is that a comet was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. If that theory is true and a comet hit the earth once then, it stands to reason that it could happen again.
If you think about how long that humans have lived on earth, how many astoroids(big enough to wory about) have hit earth?
They say the big ones come in cycles of about 70 (or something) million years. The whole solar system moves through a “rough area” in space that often. It’s time for that again “soon”. Last time was when the dinosaurs died, 65 million years ago. We will not live to see it.
But if you look up to the sky for a few hours you will probably see the trails of objects a few mm in diameter that burn up when they enter our atmosphere. These are mostly fragments from comets.
Meteorites that are big enough to survive the entry into atmosphere are less common, but the scientists still pick them up in places like antarctica where they are easy to spot in the snow. The most famous one was a rock called “ALH 84001”, from Mars that they first thought had fossils in it. A handful of cases of meteorites are reported each year. They are not dangerous thought, unless they hit you in the head 
Someone in Canada I believe, had his/her car hit by a bigger meteorite, but survived. (I am not sure if it is an urban legend or not).
There is one crater in a desert somewhere that’s 30 000 or something years old. The rock was only a few meters in diameter,
but the crater is big. I remember seeing the picture in a book. Craters erode because of water and rain. Therefore it is hard for scientists to tell exactly how common they are.
From the NASA website:
Is the Earth Targeted for an Impact?
Not that we know of! None of the asteroids or comets discovered so far is on a collision course with Earth. However, we can’t speak for those that are not yet discovered. In principle, one of those could hit any time, but statistically the chances are very small.
If the dinosaur theory is correct, one will be more than enough. Then if you figure all the other natural disasters that could and have hit the earth it is only a mater of time. However I think that we will wipe our selves out long before any natural disaster does it.
I’m not sure how many, but the Tunguska asteroid/comet is the most recent one. In 1908 a stone asteroid/comet caused an enormous blast above this isolated region in Siberia: instantly, 2,000km² of forests were destroyed. The seismic explosion was recorded all over Eurasia, and beautiful nightclouds were seen everywhere on the globe. If this meteorite had struck about 3 hours later, then it would have exploded above Moscow, killing millions.
And this was all caused by a small comet or asteroid of only 50 meters in diameter. So you can guess what would happen if an asteroid of a few kilometers in diameter would hit us…
But on the long term, a good asteroid blast isn’t such a bad thing. Just look at the past: from the five mass extinctions, at least 2 of them are contributed to asteroid blasts. If these catastrophic events didn’t occur, we probably wouldn’t exist nowadays. The Permian extinction for instance, which happened about 245 million years ago, was caused by a gigantic impact by a 15-20km comet or asteroid. About 90% (!) of all life on Earth died as a result, and it was the biggest mass extinction which ever happened, much bigger than the one which killed the dinosaurs. However, as a result of this massive dying, new animal and plant species could arise during the following era. Evolution did its job and life found a new way to express itself, through the arising of reptiles, mammals and birds. During the Cretaceous extinction, 66 million years ago, the dinosaurs were wiped out, and mammals and birds were given the chance to evolve into the majestic animals which they are today. If the dinosaurs weren’t wiped out, then humans didn’t have any chance to evolve.
Scientists have suggested a theory which explains the cycles of mass extinction: during these asteroid impacts, the sun moved through a dense cloud of gas and dust in the Milky Way. This triggered the release of an increased number of comets from the outer edges of the solar system to the inner planets. Hence, the increased possibility of big impacts on Earth and the resulting mass extinctions. Nowadays, we’re again moving towards such a cloud, but ofcourse this process takes ages, so don’t start to worry yet
Guys don’t forget that Armageddon in the Bible is a place! Where two main armies will collide.
Why do you mention this? Do you think it has anything to do with the point of impact of the next big asteroid which will wipe us all out?
I was trying to point out that according to the bible, we shouldn’t be afraid of an asteroid hitting us (which can happen in one year, in two years or in one thousand years) but from a world war 3, this will wipe out human life on the planet. The movie armageddon was falsly called with that name.
You’re definitely right about that…
just remembered, i heard somewhere that december 23rd, 2013 was the date of some kind of armageddon or something. dont know what, but i remember that date.
The word armageddon, although it is shown only once (or two times, which I doubt so) in the bible has caused many disputes. Actually no one knows what does it mean for sure, apart from the fact that IT IS a place. The apocalypse (which means the un-covering in greek) it is first written in old greek. The official etymology of Armageddon is the combination of the two words in Hebrew: har (mountain) and Megiddo (an often blood-spilled area in Israel), therefore the definition would be the mountain region of Megiddo. The only justification for this explanation is the fact that Megiddo is an ancient area, which was often seen as a big battle area. However, my thoughts about this case is, why didn’t John use the word Harmagiddo in greek instead of Armageddon, I mean it is easy to say it in greek. Second, there isn’t actually a mountain in Megiddo, just hills (unless they count as a mountain). Finally, armageddon can have another meaning in ancient greek: Arma=chariot + geddon=trap. So are we talking about a trap for chariots(tanks)? It has to be very big, are they building any big roads in asia at this time?
And something else about the date, 2012 has been mentioned in Maya findings, as the end of civilization.
Now, what i know for sure, Future can not be written down, although some people want to manipulate it and cause some things to happen. We are seeing a lot of tension in our times, but are these tensions happening for the benefit of some people? What I am saying is that we should do everything in our power to avoid any future world war and let peace prevail for the good of the human kind.
I doubt 2014 will be THE apocalypse, perhaps A apocalypse.
Apparently 2012 will “end life as we know it”, meaning an apocalypse. I believe 2012 is when the Mayan calendar ends, resulting in the assumption that 2012 will be an apocalypse.
There have been apocalypses scheduled almost every year anyway, comets and meteors (are they the same things?) flying around close to Earth, the Earth getting too hot/cold, the Earth blowing up… almost every year includes one of them happening if we believe it all.
So what am I trying to say?
Don’t worry about an apocalypse, we are always getting told it’s gonna happen but it never does (that we know of, although the extinction of Dinosaurs could have been some form of apocalypse, but… for dinosaurs 
)
i assume chances are something like that will happen sooner or later though…
but there’d still be no reason to worry even if we were to die tomorrow 
True, they’d be nothing we could do about it if it were to happen, so no need to worry people! Panic over! Move along, nothing to see here.
El Fonzo wrote:
Well yes and no. While it is true that we may be powerless to stop a natural disaster like another ice age or something. We can and should prepare for such an event. Then we can prepare and possibly adapt to it. I mean even in the event that a comet where to hit the earth there is always the possibility that some people would survive afterwards. Scientist have speculated that the earth was struck by a comet once already and life survived. We know the earth as seen several ice ages and again life survived. Knowledge brings hope and ignorance leads to disaster.
Also, there are many man made disasters that could happen and we can certainly stop that. I hope.
exactly, i wasn’t saying we shouldn’t act but that we shouldn’t worry
we always make our choices by weighing things up and trying to live to a full extent, but there’s no point in worrying, or fear…etc
if we knew a comet was going to hit in 1 month say…
we could still prepare, plan , try to avert it, fight it…etc but whether we succeed or not there’d be no reason to worry or be afraid 
I’ve just got a couple of things to say.
The whole no reason to worry thing, I’d like to see someone who isn’t worried about impending death and is sane. I don’t think that fear has no purpose, and is useless. For an immediate response our bodies release adreniline because of it which allows us to run faster. Of course this would do no good if an asteroid was gonna hit. But if no one was worried about an asteroid hitting us, then none would be discovered and no defences would be ready for if one comes. It is because people are worried that there are systems in place to detect asteroids, and fear may be our only hope.
Anyway, I agree with everyone that it is very unlikely.
There has been a lot of talk on this forum and others about the year 2012. Some people think many people will die, others think that everyone will evolve. This is all because the Mayan calendar ends in 2012. Now I’ve got a question for everyone. Why do we assume their right? Just because they said something was going to happen why do we believe them. There is a weird thing now, where people assume that people who live before us know so many things that we don’t because they are the “ancients”, they must be clever. There are people who only take ancient herbal medecines and disregard medical science because the ancients must be right. Over the times that humans have been alive, knowledge has built on knowledge. Humans have found out more about the universe from previous knowledge. I don’t think that any important knowledge has been lost, as important things are passed on.
I see no possible way that they could have predicted the future and the knowledge to do that has been lost, it doesn’t make sense.
That is more or less the point I was trying to make. At some point the earth will experience another catastrophic event. It may not be in our lifetime but, there is no way to know that for sure. If we do not take these potential threats seriously then we will not be prepared to deal with the situation when it happens. As things stand right now. Most people would not know what to do in the event of a local disaster let alone some sort of global event.
i guess it’s a matter of accepting death, adrenaline can still be employed in severe conditions even if you’re not afraid,
surely the OBE student or NDE survivor who no longer fears death is still sane?
i think it’s possible to be ok with death and still try to avert it, it’s commonly said to prepare for death is to prepare for life and to live it to a fuller extent
yes fear has it’s good points but you’d agree it has bad points too? and that calmness or happiness has good and possibly bad points too?
then why not learn to choose one over the other if you think one has better good points?
anyway it doesn’t matter either way, whether we live in fear of something or not, both ways are equal we just feel different depending on what we employ