A passing star may ship planets scattering
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Stars whizzing by our photo voltaic system may trigger extra havoc than astronomers beforehand thought, from sending Pluto’s orbit haywire to forcing Mercury to fly into the solar – and even catastrophically altering Earth’s orbit and local weather. The general danger of those occasions continues to be low, however the larger affect of passing stars implies that occasions like these may be commonplace in different planetary programs.
Whereas the orbits of the planets have been as soon as considered as predictable and unchanging as clockwork, trendy astronomers have discovered that on lengthy timescales, they’re…
