The Earth as viewed from a composite of NASA satellite images from space in the early 2000s. While it may seem like a tall order to end all human life on the planet from an external threat, the Universe is more than up to the challenge. (NASA / BLUE MARBLE PROJECT)

5 Killer Events From Space That Could Wipe Out Human Life On Earth

Even if we don’t destroy ourselves, we always have the Universe to contend with.

Wiping out all life on Earth is hard, but causing mass extinctions is easy.

The 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo was the largest volcanic eruption to occur in our lifetimes. One that was perhaps 10,000 times the magnitude of this could threaten human life on Earth, and perhaps volcanism was the cause of at least one of our previous major mass extinctions. (ALBERT GARCIA)

Five major extinction events have occurred since the Cambrian explosion, each eradicating over 60% of terrestrial species.

A measure of biodiversity, and changes in the number of genera that exist at any given time, to identify the most major extinction events in the past 500 million years. They are not periodic, and only the most recent one (from 65 million years ago) has a known cause. (WIKIMEDIA COMMONS USER ALBERT MESTRE, WITH DATA FROM ROHDE, R.A., AND MULLER, R.A.)

At least five extraterrestrial scenarios are capable of wiping humanity out.

A large, rapidly moving mass that strikes the Earth would be certainly capable of causing a mass extinction event. However, such events appear to be relatively rare. Even though asteroid and comet strikes are frequent, one that causes a mass extinction may be rare enough that no such strikes will occur for billions of years. (DON DAVIS (WORK COMMISSIONED BY NASA))

1.) Asteroid/comet strike: a giant impact triggered the last great mass extinction 65 million years ago.

The comet that gives rise to the Perseid meteor shower, Comet Swift-Tuttle, was photographed during its last pass into the inner Solar System in 1992. The influence of the gravity of the other planets has the potential to dramatically change its orbit, however, making it a potential threat to Earth in the year 4479. It has been called the single most dangerous object known to humanity by NASA. (NASA)