New research highlights a potential threat to Earth’s long-term stability, suggesting that our planet could be ejected from the solar system or even collide with the Sun due to gravitational disturbances caused by passing stars. Published in the journal Icarus, the study indicates that encounters with ‘field stars’ could trigger significant cosmic instability, possibly even before the Sun’s eventual demise. Researchers used sophisticated computer simulations to model the solar system’s evolution over billions of years. The study indicates that a star with a mass comparable to our Sun, passing within a certain distance (10,000 astronomical units) could significantly disrupt the Oort Cloud, the outer boundary of our solar system. The study’s findings suggest that the orbits of planets, including Pluto, are less stable than previously assumed, with the potential for Mercury’s orbit to become significantly destabilized. This could lead to cascading effects, potentially involving collisions between terrestrial planets like Venus, Mars, and Earth, or even ejection from the solar system.
