Earth is Habitable for at Least 1.75 Billion More Years, Without Anthropogenic Climate Change That is

Fear not. Despite apocalyptic tales of doom and gloom, the Earth isn't going to self-destruct anytime soon. According to one group of scientists, we've got at least a good 1.75 billion years of habitability left on this planet.

The findings, which can be found in the journal Astrobiology, are based on calculations concerning Earth's distance from the sun. A planet's distance from the sun either places it within the star's habitable zone — a range where the temperature is hospitable to liquid water — or outside of it. By studying the Earth's movements in regards to its stellar parent, the team of researchers found that after 1.75 billion-3.25 billion years, the Earth could very well be in the "hot zone," where liquid water would cease to exist on our planet. Liquid water is generally considered the most important element for fostering biological life as we know it.

"We used stellar evolution models to estimate the end of a planet's habitable lifetime by determining when it will no longer be in the habitable zone. We estimate that Earth will cease to be habitable somewhere between 1.75 and 3.25 billion years from now," said Andrew Rushby, the study leader from the University of East Anglia.

"After this point, Earth will be in the 'hot zone' of the sun, with temperatures so high that the seas would evaporate. We would see a catastrophic and terminal extinction event for all life."

It's important to note that the research does not absolve the potentially-devastating effects of climate change. Man-induced deterioration as well as natural weather cycles could render Earth a much more adverse landscape than if it was naturally left alone.

"Of course conditions for humans and other complex life will become impossible much sooner - and this is being accelerated by anthropogenic climate change. Humans would be in trouble with even a small increase in temperature, and near the end only microbes in niche environments would be able to endure the heat," Rushby explained.