Buzz
Humanity's journey to this point has been marked by incredible luck. While it's easy to speculate about why we haven't yet encountered intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, there have been several moments when humanity was on the brink of an apocalyptic disaster.
10. The Bonilla Observation of 1883
On August 12, 1883, Mexican astronomer Jose Bonilla made an astonishing observation—more than 400 dark, fuzzy, unidentified objects crossing the Sun while preparing to study its corona. Unbeknownst to him, these objects were fragments from a massive comet, weighing over a billion tons, which had shattered and barely avoided striking Earth. This comet was of similar size to the one responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs.
The fragments, ranging from 50 meters (160 ft) to over 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) in diameter, were far more destructive than an atomic bomb. They passed at a mere 600 kilometers (375 mi) to 8,000 kilometers (5,000 mi) from Earth—a minuscule distance in cosmic terms.
Each fragment had the potential to trigger an explosion akin to the Tunguska event. Scientists believe this could have led to the extinction of life on Earth as we know it.
9. The Tunguska Event of 1908
The Tunguska event in 1908 was likely caused by the explosion of a small asteroid or comet that disintegrated just before hitting Earth's surface. The resulting airburst devastated over 2,000 square kilometers (770 mi) of dense Russian forest.
Fortunately, no casualties were reported, as the explosion occurred in a remote region of Russia. The blast's power was approximately 1,000 times stronger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, which claimed the lives of over 160,000 people.
A witness located 65 kilometers (40 mi) away recounted the event: “The sky split in two and fire appeared high and wide over the forest.”
8. Coronal Mass Ejection of 2012
While the world didn't come to an end in 2012, as the Maya had allegedly foretold, the apocalypse was still much closer than many realized. In July of that year, a massive plasma ejection from the Sun passed through Earth's orbit, precisely where the planet had been only nine days prior.
If this solar mass had struck Earth, the damage to electronic equipment would have been catastrophic. It could have resulted in trillions of dollars in damages and taken over a decade to fully recover. In a world so reliant on technology, the thought of such an event is terrifying.
7. 4581 Asclepius 1989
4581 Asclepius is the name of the asteroid that came dangerously close to colliding with Earth in March 1989, passing within 645,000 kilometers (400,000 mi) of our planet. While that may sound like a significant distance, the threat was real—because Asclepius had actually passed through Earth's exact position just six hours earlier.
If the asteroid had struck, the explosion would have been equivalent to a 600-megaton thermonuclear detonation. For perspective, the largest nuclear device ever detonated was only 50 megatons. The resulting mushroom cloud would have been seven times the height of Mount Everest.
6. False Alarm 1983
In September 1983, the Soviet nuclear early warning system detected what appeared to be multiple intercontinental ballistic missiles heading toward the USSR from the United States.
As alarms rang out, the computer system indicated that five missiles were on their way. Stanislav Petrov, the duty officer at the base, dismissed the warnings as a false alarm and defied his orders. He reasoned that if an attack were underway, there would be hundreds of missiles, not just five.
Fortunately, Petrov was right. By preventing a Soviet retaliatory strike that night, he likely saved humanity from disaster. The false alarm was later found to have been caused by a rare alignment of sunlight on high-altitude clouds.
5. The B-59 Submarine
During the peak of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a solitary Soviet submarine silently cruised through the waters. It was soon detected by US Navy warships, which began dropping small depth charges the size of grenades. This was meant to signal the B-59 to surface for identification, but the Russian crew was unaware of this.
Unbeknownst to the Americans, the B-59 carried a single nuclear torpedo, whose destructive force was equivalent to that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. The submarine endured constant small explosions and the temperature inside rose well above 38 degrees Celsius (100 °F).
Desperate to surface but convinced they were under attack, the commanding officers of the submarine debated whether to launch the torpedo. Three votes were needed to fire it, and only one stood between the world and nuclear conflict. Vasili Arkhipov, the second-in-command, persuaded the captain that they were not under attack and must surface immediately.
As Secretary McNamara stated: “Nuclear war had come much closer than people realized.”
4. Goldsboro B-52 Crash 1961
In January 1961, a B-52 bomber carrying two Mark 39 nuclear bombs disintegrated midair, causing its eight-megaton atomic payload to fall onto Goldsboro, North Carolina. At the time, the US government insisted that there was no risk of either bomb detonating. However, declassified documents from 2013 reveal that one bomb came frighteningly close to exploding.
Nuclear safety supervisor Parker Jones reported that “a single, simple, low-voltage dynamo switch separated the United States from a major disaster.” Each bomb had a destructive power approximately 250 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. Had the wind been blowing in the right direction, the deadly radioactive fallout could have reached New York.
3. Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
In October 1962, around midnight, the Cuban Missile Crisis was at its most intense. Bombers armed with nuclear weapons were constantly airborne, and the world anxiously hoped for a peaceful end to the frightening situation.
At Duluth air base, a guard noticed a suspicious figure attempting to climb the fence. The guard fired a few shots and triggered the intruder alarm, which was designed to set off identical alarms at nearby bases. However, at Volk Field air base, the wrong alarm went off—and it happened to be the one that signaled the start of World War III.
Pilots were scrambled and quickly positioned their fighters and nuclear-capable bombers on the runway. They were mere seconds from launching and unleashing nuclear destruction on Russian territory. Then, a truck sped down the runway, flashing its lights frantically in an attempt to warn the pilots of the false alarm.
So, who was the shadowy figure that set off this near-catastrophic chain reaction? A Soviet agent sent to sabotage the base? No, it turned out to be nothing more than a confused bear.
2. Training Program Mistaken for Reality
In 1979, NORAD's programmers unknowingly set the stage for a potential catastrophe when they ran a scheduled computer simulation of a Soviet assault. The disaster was that the systems used for the simulation were connected to NORAD's main network, sending the false attack data in real-time to defense systems across the nation.
Jet fighters were deployed, military personnel said their final goodbyes to family members, and panic spread across the armed forces. A huge wave of relief followed when it was revealed that the whole event had been nothing but a simulated exercise.
1. The Moon Almost Ended Everything
In October 1960, early warning radar stations in Greenland triggered alarm bells, reporting a possible nuclear attack on the United States. As fear gripped military personnel, information about the supposed strike began to pour in.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was placed on high alert. Then someone raised a question: 'Why would the Soviet Union launch an attack while their leader is in the US for diplomatic talks?' After reassessing the situation, it turned out the rising Moon had caused the dangerous misunderstanding.
