A passing star shifting Neptune’s orbit could wreck the solar system

ShiWarrior · 9 Jul 2022 at 18:57

A passing star shifting Neptune’s orbit could cause the collapse of the solar sy

Planets could smash into one another or get thrown out of the solar system entirely.

metro.co.uk

A passing star shifting Neptune’s orbit could wreck the solar system

If a star flying past our solar system moved Neptune's orbit by just 0.1 per cent, it could eventually cause the other planets to smash into one another or get thrown out of the solar system entirely

www.newscientist.com

If a star flying past our solar system moved Neptune's orbit by just 0.1 per cent, it could eventually cause the other planets to smash into one another or get thrown out of the solar system entirely

aVdub · 9 Jul 2022 at 19:01

I shiver at the thought of an ending that see's me flying at warp speed into Uranus.

BUDFORCE · 9 Jul 2022 at 19:01

Yup, and our sun could implode, we could get hit by a large asteroid etc etc.

But at the end of the day until Scott Manley says it's a thing, don't worry.

Rroff · 9 Jul 2022 at 19:02

Haven't read the articles but IIRC it is like 30,000 years until that is even a possibility anyhow.

RogB · 9 Jul 2022 at 19:03

Mmm, how close is the next nearest star to us? At 40,208,000,000,000 km away I think we are good

Rroff · 9 Jul 2022 at 19:05

RogB said:
Mmm, how close is the next nearest star to us? At 40,208,000,000,000 km away I think we are good

Stars come relatively close passing by every ~50,000 years with I believe one in about 30,000 years time and then another in 1.3-1.4 million years coming close enough they might disturb objects in the outer solar system.

EDIT: From a quick Google looks like the last one was ~70,000 years ago.

Malevolence · 9 Jul 2022 at 19:12

No need to worry, it's not for another 1.2MY that Gliese 710 will pass close enough to perturb the solar system. And barring some medical breakthrough in the next few years we'll all be dust by then.

dlockers · 9 Jul 2022 at 19:13

Malevolence said:
No need to worry, it's not for another 1.2MY that Gliese 710 will pass close enough to perturb the solar system.

How can I plan?

Diddums · 9 Jul 2022 at 19:14

dLockers said:
How can I plan?

Buy band aids. Could get messy.

Rroff · 9 Jul 2022 at 19:14

dLockers said:
How can I plan?

We need an OcUK sub-section for this.

andy_mk3 · 9 Jul 2022 at 19:23

dLockers said:
How can I plan?

Toilet paper, lots of it.

LabR@t · 9 Jul 2022 at 19:34

Rroff said:
Haven't read the articles but IIRC it is like 30,000 years until that is even a possibility anyhow.

It's that when the lib Dems win an electio

dlockers · 9 Jul 2022 at 19:45

LabR@t said:
It's that when the lib Dems win an electio

You're drunk, log off

robfosters · 9 Jul 2022 at 20:52

Rroff said:
Stars come relatively close passing by every ~50,000 years with I believe one in about 30,000 years time and then another in 1.3-1.4 million years coming close enough they might disturb objects in the outer solar system.

EDIT: From a quick Google looks like the last one was ~70,000 years ago.

Got time for a quick pint then

Derek W · 9 Jul 2022 at 20:59

Better give Lister a call so he sharpen up his pool skills :cool:

Stu999 · 9 Jul 2022 at 21:07

It’s not the giant comet I was hoping for but I’ll take it.

Feek · 9 Jul 2022 at 21:19

This sounds like the sort of rubbish videos people watch on YouTube.

If xxx happens then xxx will happen.

Spoken with A.Very.Serious.Voice and dramatic music in the background.

GlitterBalls · 9 Jul 2022 at 21:22

Sometimes when I go to the toilet, the things that exit my anus I swear could also destroy the solar system.
Thankfully, not yet.

moon man · 9 Jul 2022 at 21:30

I wonder if we were immortal if we would worry about these possible events in the future .the perceived passage of time speeds up as a day becomes a smaller percentage of our time on Earth ,why is my banana plant talking back to me ,that's weird man

mrk · 9 Jul 2022 at 22:34

That's a lot of could and might for a scientific article.

Carry on as normal, nothing outlandish will happen in any meaningful amount of time, and by that point we will be almost certainly off-world and probably not biologically human any more anyway so it wouldn't matter.