Life on Earth is in danger! Everything is going fine in the Solar System, all the planets are following their path, until a runaway star appears. This star is an astronomical threat because if it gets closer to our Solar System, it could lead to a chaotic situation where all the planets can be pushed away and shaken up. It’d better not happen because it can result in a planetary collision.
Life on Earth is always at risk, sometimes an asteroid and others a runaway star. This might seem scary, but you don’t need to feel that way. Scientists said this is a possibility, but not certain.
Let’s learn more about this star moving around space as it wishes and see why it is threatening our planet Earth.
Earth pushed out of its orbit or even the Solar System
Scientists have found a star that moves around space on its own with no pattern to follow. This star was seen travelling near our Solar System, which is dangerous, because if it gets near the Sun its gravity can push planets away. Can you imagine having to learn all the planets’ positions again? I hope not.
Who found this?
Only two astronomers were the ones in charge of this discovery, Nathan Kaib and Sean Raymond. They made a study about the theory of the runaway star we mentioned before, but they said the disorderly positions of the planets will be caused by Mercury. If this planet is affected by that star, Mercury would change its path and this would create a mess in all the rest of the planets.
Basically, because of Mercury’s orbit instability, Mercury could be the first piece of a chain reaction where Venus, Earth and Mars will be affected by this after Mercury.
An astronomical threat
Well, kind of… scientists call it this way to give it a name, but it really isn’t that much. I mean, if it happens it would be a threat and a chaotic situation, but they said it is unlikely to happen.
Talking in numbers, there is a 0.2% possibility of this runaway star colliding against the Earth in the next 5 billion years! Basically, the Sun will have ended us all before this runaway star.
What’s Pulto’s role here?
Pluto is very unlucky. First, it was categorised as a dwarf planet and now it is more likely to have its orbit affected by this runaway star than Earth’s one. Scientists say it has a 4% probability of being kicked out of the Solar System because of this runaway star.
This has an easy explanation, it is because Pluton is very far positioned and its orbit has an elliptical shape – which is different from other orbits. So, this could be modified if the runaway star decides to visit the Sun.
Then…
In essence, we are always going to be threatened by a phenomenon. There is always something happening in outer space and even on Earth that makes some changes which provoke negative consequences. Sometimes these are more worrying than others, but in this case you don’t need to worry.
I mean, there are other aspects we should deal with first, like global warming. This is something to worry about because this cause is currently changing our environment whereas the runaway star (if it happens) will be effective in billions of years time…
So, it is true we need to listen to scientists and be informed about what’s happening out there, but let’s focus on the present and contribute as much as we can to the improvement of our home planet, our Earth.