A Star Appears to Have Come Closer to Earth Than the Voyager Probes
As detailed in a pair of new studies published in the journal Nature Astronomy and The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the stellar flyby could explain the puzzling orbits of certain objects in our Solar System, like tiny celestial bodies lingering at its outer limits, and even some of our planetary neighbors' oddball moons.
The encounter would have been close beyond belief. Based on the findings, the wayward star came within 110 astronomical units of the Sun (AU), or 110 times the distance between the Sun and the Earth.
To put things into perspective, that brings the stellar visitor closer to the Earth than the current distance of the interstellar-bound Voyager 1 probe, which has managed to travel 164 AU away from our planet since it launched in 1971.
Considering that the closest known star today, Proxima Centauri, is still over four light years away, that's a pretty dramatic near-miss — and it would take such a disruption, the researchers argue, to account for the chaotic orbits abided by celestial bodies in an overlooked part of our Solar System, beyond the reach of the outermost planet Neptune.
