Tiny changes in a single star’s path could destabilize the solar system, causing the system to collapse.
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If a star gets too close to Neptune during a “stellar flyby” and knocks off its axis by 0.1%, it could destabilize the entire solar system as a result, according to research published by Garett Brown and Hanno Rein of the University of Toronto.
Brown and Rein explain their findings in the research paper, “On the long-term stability of the Solar System in the presence of weak perturbations from stellar flybys.”
“We find that small perturbations to the outer planets’ orbits are transferred between planets, increasing the likelihood that the inner planetary system will destabilize,” the paper says.
Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun in the solar system, and changes to its orbit could have severe consequences on the inner planets, including Earth, according to the research.
There is also a possibility that if Mercury and Jupiter’s points of reaching closest to the sun fall in sync with one another, Mercury could be pulled out of its orbit, shooting out of the solar system entirely, researchers wrote. The planet could also end up on a course to collide with Venus, the sun, or the Earth.
In the research, nearly 3,000 simulations of a stellar flyby occurring on a random planet’s path around the sun were conducted, with 26 ending in instability, including 20 resulting in collisions between Mercury and Venus and one being a collision between Earth and Mars. In simulations, the changes occur over several millions of years.
In remarks to Universe Today, Brown said the chance of a stellar flyby harming the order of the solar system would not be likely due to its rarity.
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“We estimated that a critical stellar flyby like this could occur once every 100 billion years in the region the Solar System is currently in,” Brown said.