A new vision of Armageddon was presented by scientists yesterday - collision with a cosmic cloud.
If the solar system hit even a small gas cloud in space, the ''bubble'' surrounding it which protects life on our planet could burst, it was claimed.
As a result, the Earth would be raked by deadly cosmic radiation and suffer unpredictable, destructive climatic changes leading to global warming, a great flood, or an ice age.
One especially cloudy region is directly in our path, although it will not be reached for about 50,000 years. However, small knots of gas called the ''Local Fluff'' could be encountered far sooner.
The new doomsday prophecy comes in the wake of fears of the end of the world arriving in the form of a giant comet or asteroid.
Gary Zank, of the Bartol Research Institute at the University of Delaware, said: ''Without the heliosphere (the ''cocoon'' created by the solar wind) neutral hydrogen would interact with our atmosphere, possibly producing catastrophic climate changes, while our exposure to deadly cosmic radiation in the form of very high-energy cosmic rays would increase.''
oAstronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope say they have seen what may be the first planet found outside our solar system. One scientist called the discovery ''unbelievably exciting''.
Scientists at NASA said the sighting challenges conventional theories about the birth and evolution of planets, and offers new insights into the formation of the solar system.
The object, found within a star-forming region in the constellation Taurus, is about 450 light-years (2646 trillion millions) away from Earth and was flung about 130 billion miles from two stars that ejected it.
A light-year is 5.88 trillion miles.
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