10 cases, when the planet was on the brink of Apocalypse

Until mankind came out unscathed. Given how much we've been lucky so far, it becomes strange why we haven't found life elsewhere in the Universe. However, there were many cases when the human race was almost at the brink of doomsday.

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Observation Bonilla

1883

12 August 1883, Mexican astronomer josé Bonilla was watched by more than 400 dark, fuzzy, unidentified objects crossing the Sun while studying his crown. Unknown to him, these objects were fragments of a comet with a mass of more than a billion tons, which disintegrated and miraculously passed the Earth. A comet of this size once killed the dinosaurs.

Each piece was the size of 50 meters up to 4 kilometers and are much more powerful than the atomic bomb. According to various estimates, the fragments took place at a distance of from 600 to 8,000 kilometers from the Earth. It is very small in the cosmic sense. Each such fragment could cause an explosion, similar to what caused the Tunguska meteorite. According to scientists, life on Earth, then just come to an end.

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Tunguska event

1908

The Tunguska event was caused by the impact of a small asteroid or comet that disintegrated near the Earth's surface in 1908. Air explosion that happened, knocked more than 2000 square kilometers of dense forest in Russia.

Fortunately, no one was killed in the explosion because it occurred in a sparsely populated region. The explosion was the equivalent of 1,000 bombs that fell on Hiroshima and killed 160,000 people. A witness who was in 65 kilometers from the event, described it: "the Sky split in two, and over the forest were tall and wide the fire."

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coronal mass Ejection

2012

As we all know, in 2012, the world did not come to an end, contrary to the predictions of the Maya. But he was closer than you think. Incredibly powerful emission of plasma of the Sun happened in July of that year, slipped to place in Earth orbit where a planet was nine days before that.

If this solar mass hit the Ground, damage to electronic equipment would be disastrous. It would cause damage in the trillions of dollars, and recovery would take a decade. In an era when we are so dependent on technology, such an event would be terrible.

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4581 Asclepius

1989

4581 Asclepius — the name of the asteroid, which took place in 645 000 miles from Earth in March 1989. Pretty far, huh? Well, doomsday is almost upon us, because 4581 Asclepius passed through the exact position of the Earth six hours earlier.

If the asteroid hit, the explosion would have been equivalent to 600-megaton thermonuclear explosion. For comparison, the most powerful nuclear bomb was a 50 megaton. Cloud fungus that could happen during this explosion, it would be 7 times higher than mount Everest.

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False alarm

1983

In September 1983, the Soviet nuclear early warning system reported that the United States has launched multiple ballistic missiles towards the USSR.

While ringing the alarm, the computer system reported five missiles on the way. Stanislav Petrov, duty officer at the base said that the warning was a false alarm and did not follow orders. He said that if the attack occurred, would be launched five missiles, and hundreds.

Fortunately, he was right. That night, Petrov was not allowed retaliation of the Soviet troops, perhaps for the sake of humanity this. A false alarm was due to a rare effect of sunlight on high-altitude clouds.

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Submarine B-59

In the midst of the Cuban missile crisis, a lone Soviet submarine was silently gliding along the ocean. Soon it found warships of the U.S. Navy, which began to drop small depth charges. This was the signal for the rise of B-59 to surface for identification, but the Russian crew did not know about.

Unknown to the Americans the B-59 was armed with a nuclear torpedo with a destructive force equal to the power of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The sub hooked small explosions left and right, and the inside temperature rose to 38 degrees Celsius.

Not wanting to come to the surface, but in the belief that they are attacking, the commanders of the submarine were arguing about whether to start a torpedo. Had three voices, and only one separated the world from nuclear war. Lieutenant Colonel Vasily Arkhipov convinced the captain that they do not attack and that they need to come to the surface. Then nuclear war was much closer than thought by many people.

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the crash of the B-52 in Goldsboro

1961

In January 1961 a B-52 bomber loaded with two nuclear bombs Mark 39, broke up in the air and threw his 8-megaton load in Goldsboro, North Carolina. At the time of the crash, the us government denied that any bombs could detonate. But declassified information that came out in 2013 showed that one of the bombs was very close to explosion.

Observer in nuclear security, Parker Jones announced that "one simple, Dynamo-technology, low voltage switch is caught between the US and a major catastrophe." Each bomb was 250 times more powerful than Hiroshima. If the wind blew in the right direction, a deadly radioactive ash would be covered with new York.

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the Moon is almost killed us

In October 1960, a radar base for early detection in Greenland began sending crazy signals that the United States was attacked. As the troops began to move, disclosed details of a large-scale attack.

The North American aerospace defence command (NORAD) went on full alert. Then someone asked: "why would the Soviet Union attack when its leader is in the U.S. in the negotiations?". In the end, the message is checked and it turned out that the rising Moon was mistaken for a threat to national security.

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the Tests took as a real threat

In 1979 programmers at NORAD almost started world war III when he launched the traditional simulation of a Soviet attack. Unfortunately for them, a computer system on which the tests were carried out, was connected to the network and NORAD sent live data about attacks on the defence system across the country.

Jet fighters took to the air, people began to say goodbye to their loved ones, and the military reigned terror. Imagine the sigh of relief when news emerged that it was all a big hoax.

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Cuban missile crisis

1962

Around midnight, in October 1962, the Cuban missile crisis was at its peak. Nuclear bombers were constantly in the air, and the whole world held its breath and prayed for the peaceful end of a terrible trial.

The Guard at the airbase Duluth noticed a mysterious figure who tried to climb over the fence. The guard shot several times and activated the alarm, which caused an identical alarm on the neighboring bases. But on the air force base Volk field came a very bad signal, which signaled the beginning of world war III.

The Pilots were convened and began to line up on the runway with their fighters and bombers with nuclear weapons. They were seconds from take-off and delivery of nuclear destruction on Russian soil. Then they broke into the truck. He desperately flashed the headlights, trying to tell the pilots about a false alarm.

Who was this dark figure who almost start an apocalyptic chain reaction? Soviet saboteur? No. It turned out that it was nothing more than a frightened bear.

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