Super-scary! A super-Earth will toss us into the Sun or leave us lost in interstellar space

Super-Earths are pretty common in other star systems, but what if one was to appear in our solar system? A study tried to find out more about a what-if scenario related to a super-Earth in our solar system, and the results were pretty scary. Scientists have seen the space between Mars and Jupiter as a gap and in their quest to fill that gap, they decided to come up with an imaginative super-Earth.

Researchers at the University of California Riverside found that the appearance of a giant super-Earth will spell doom for theEarth and end all life on our planet. The appearance of an exoplanet in our solar system might lead to some super scary scenarios, the study says. A super-Earth will probably toss Earth, Mercury and Venusinto the Sun or leave us wandering in interstellar space.

Earth's orbit would be affected in such a way by the super-Earth that its shape would change and it would pretty much become less habitable.

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Earth won't be the only one to be affected by a super-Earth. These exoplanets can be anywhere from 1.5 to 10 times as massive as Earth and will have the ability to cause destruction on other bigger planets, such as Uranus or Neptune, which will be kicked out of the solar system.

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The study was published in the Planetary Science Journal. Stephen Kane, a professor of planetary astrophysics at the University of California Riverside and author of the studysays, these imaginary super-Earths can “provide important insights into the question of how typical our solar system architecture and evolution is compared with other planetary systems".

The researchers tried to understand the gap in the size of Earth and Neptune, which is four times wider and 17 times more massive than Earth. Super-Earths fall in between the size of these planets and can potentially fill that gap. “In other star systems, there are many planets with masses in that gap. We call them super-Earths. Planetary scientists often wish there was something in between those two planets. It seems like wasted real estate,” Kane said in a press statement.

The researchers ran dynamic simulations of a fictional planet between Mars and Jupiter and reported how that might affect the orbits of other planets. “This fictional planet gives a nudge to Jupiter that is just enough to destabilise everything else. Despite many astronomers having wished for this extra planet, it’s a good thing we don’t have it,” said Kane.

Some scientists believe a super-Earth probably does exist in the solar system and is about 20 times farther from the Sun than Neptune. This theory has been reached due to some weird gravitational effects spotted in the outer reaches of the solar system. This supposed planet has been named Planet Nine and could be a large super-Earth. However, no one knows for sure if it does exist.

(With inputs from agencies)

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