Can a rogue star save Earth from its destined extinction? Scientists say...

Scientists have time and again emphasised how the sun will become boiling hot in around a billion years and all the oceans present on Earth will be dried and eventually, the existence of life will come to an end.

Till now, scientists have believed that the fate of life on Earth has been more or less definitive. However, a new theory has emerged which suggests that a rogue star passing close to the planet may be able to save Earth.

As per a new study carried out by scientists from the University of Bordeaux, France, and the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, the passing star can turn out to be an unlikely saviour.

More than 12,000 simulations were run by the researchers to understand what can happen if a star passes within 100 astronomical units (about 9.3 billion miles) from Earth.

After creating the simulations, the scientists observed that the solar system is remarkably stable. In around 92 per cent of cases, it was observed that the solar system would remain almost intact even if a star passed by the solar system.

"I thought more would happen," said Sean Raymond, who is a study author from the University of Bordeaux in France, while speaking to New Scientist. "It's really not that easy to mess with planets' orbits – a star has to get really into another star's business to mess with its planets,” he added.

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A slim chance to save Earth

In a blog post, Raymond said, “Still, there's a chance the passing star could pull our planet out of harm's way – albeit a slim one. In 0.28 per cent of the simulations, the star pulled the Earth out of its orbit and into a more temperate region.”

In a few simulations, Earth remained inside the solar system, however, the planet was pulled to a region beyond Pluto which is about 10 per cent cooler compared to our current orbit.

In other simulations, the planet was pushed into interstellar space and it got placed in the Oort cloud which is around 2 billion light years away, or became a free-floating planet in space.

In the blog post, Raymon said, “As bizarre as it might seem, this may not be the worst-case scenario. It is much harder to un-roast a fried planet than to heat up a frozen world.”

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"If they possess modestly thick hydrogen atmospheres, free-floating planets can trap enough heat to maintain liquid water on the surface," he added.

There is just a one per cent chance of a star flying by our solar system in the next billion years, and as per the simulations, a 1 in 350 chance of Earth getting kicked into a habitable orbit.

"So taken together, that's a 1 in 35,000 chance that the long-term prospects for life on Earth will be rescued by a passing star," added Raymond.

"That's about the same odds as randomly pulling the ace of spades from two separate decks of cards while also rolling a combined 10 with two dice. Not the best odds," he said.

(With inputs from agencies)