Our Solar System may collapse if a passing star came too close

Most of us think of our Solar system as a nice little cozy cocoon inside which planets are safely embedded and we are doing what we do on Earth with complete safety. Little do we realise that Solar System is revolving around centre of the Milky Way Galaxy at huge speed and other celestial bodies are very much present around the solar system.

Another star may thus fly by the solar system. And if it does it while being a little too close for comfort, it may also result in collapse of the Solar System.

The passing star may exert its gravitational pull on planets in the Solar System and may alter their orbits, thus sending them colliding into each other.

Garret Brown and Hanno Rein, two researchers at University of Toronto have studied this possibility. They've found that gravity of the foreign star nudges orbits of some of the planets even by 0.1 per cent, it may wreak havoc.

So how close is too close for comfort?

The study has found that a distance of 23 billion miles between the Sun and the other star may make things a bit uncomfortable. This may appear a huge distance but just to put into perspective, Proxima Centauri, the star closest to our Siolar System is 24.8 trillion miles away. So 23 billion miles is much less of a distance.

Fortunately, the destruction of Solar System, if at all it happens, may not happen instantly. The process may take billions of years.

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