A rogue star can send Earth smashing into Moon, wiping out all life, study finds
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Our planet may get swayed by the gravitational pull of the rogue star, thus taking a radically different orbit altogether with the rogue star effectively acting as our new sun.
What will happen to our solar system if it ever encounters a rogue star? Researchers, including lead author Sean N. Raymond and co-authors Nathan A. Kaib, Franck Selsis, and Herve Bouy, recently published a study on arxiv.org, concluding that a rouge star can irreparably disrupt our solar system, completely dislodging the Earth from its orbit.
What is a rogue star?
A star, which is no longer under the gravitational influence of its sun, can eject from its home galaxy and interact with neighbouring ones.
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Such stars are called rogue elements, which can sometimes move in odd directions and interfere with the gravitational orbits of other stars.
Scientists used computer models to understand the impact of such a rogue star on our solar system if it ever pays a visit.
Results and predictions
The team relied on N-body simulations to help them determine “the possible evolutionary pathways of the planets under the perturbation from a close stellar passage,” which revealed a close to 92 per cent chance that the eight known planets in our solar system would remain in their current orbits or similar ones if a rogue star were to pass within 100 astronomical units (au) of the Sun.
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Of all, mercury is the most fragile planet in our solar system, the scientists said.
“Mercury is the most fragile, with a destruction rate (usually via collision with the Sun) higher than that of the four giant planets combined,” the authors write in their paper.
What will happen to our Earth?
Speaking of the Earth, our planet may most likely collide with the moon in such a situation, thus completely eliminating life here.
It is also possible that our planet may get swayed by the gravitational pull of the rogue star, thus taking a radically different orbit altogether with the rogue star effectively acting as our new sun.
Moreover, the Earth could end up in a more distant orbit than its current one, which would result in conditions becoming far colder due to the planet’s further distance from the Sun.
However, researchers said the chances of a rogue star disrupting our solar system are fairly low.
(With inputs from agencies)
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