12 hours ago
Unexpected passing object could help wipe out Earth
A recent study published in the journal Icarus indicates that passing field stars could cause more instability in our solar system than previously believed.
Astronomers Nathan Kaib and Sean Raymond conducted thousands of computer simulations, identifying passing stars as the most probable trigger for future orbital changes over the next four billion years.
The research suggests that the risk of instability for Jupiter could increase by 50 to 80 percent due to these gravitational interactions.
The study also found an approximate 0.3 percent chance that Mars could be lost through collision or ejection, and a 0.2 percent probability of Earth being involved in a planetary collision or ejected.
Despite these findings, which show a higher risk for Earth than previous research, one of the study's authors, Nathan Kaib, stated that these extreme outcomes are still not probable.
