Latest news with #solarSystem
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
The Earth could be soon flung out of orbit or into the sun - all thanks to a passing star
Could a passing star be on a collision course with our solar system and, eventually, Earth? It's difficult to know if such an outcome is likely. Recently, researchers have found the Milky Way likely won't crash into its neighboring galaxy any time soon. Our blue marble is already slated to be eaten by our sun in several billion years, after it turns into a red giant and expands. But researchers said in a recent study published in the journal Icarus that thousands of computer simulations indicate there's a chance a passing field star – a star that appears in the same region of the sky as another object being studied – could cause more havoc than previously believed. 'Our simulations indicate that isolated models of the solar system can underestimate the degree of our giant planets' future secular orbital changes by over an order of magnitude. In addition, our planets and Pluto are significantly less stable than previously thought,' Nathan Kaib and Sean Raymond, a pair of astronomers, wrote in May. Kaib is from Iowa's Planetary Science Institute and Raymond is from France's University of Bourdeaux. The study's authors say passing stars are the most probable trigger for instability during the course of the next four billion years. The gravitational tug could cause instability to completely stable objects, including Pluto: formerly the ninth planet of our solar system. Over the course of five billion years, stars could transform Pluto from a completely stable object to one with a chaotic set of gravitational interactions that sets it off its orbit. While the odds of those changes occurring in that time frame from Pluto are approximately five percent, they are exponentially greater for Mercury. The risk of instability for the solar system's first planet would increase by between around 50 and 80 percent. 'We also find an approximately 0.3 percent chance that Mars will be lost through collision or ejection and an approximately 0.2 percent probability that Earth will be involved in a planetary collision or ejected,' they wrote. Kaib previously published work that suggested Earth's orbit was altered by a passing star three million years ago. 'We looked at the typical, run-of-the-mill flybys,' Raymond told New Scientist. 'These are the stars that really do pass by the sun all the time, cosmically speaking.' Still, these simulations aside, Kaib told Science News that 'none of these things are probable.' Although, the outlet notes, a 0.2 percent chance of collision with the Earth is much greater than previous research has found. 'It's a little scary how vulnerable we may be to planetary chaos,' Renu Malhotra, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona who was not involved with the study, told Science News.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Astronomers discover the largest comet from the outskirts of the solar system is exploding with jets of gas
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Astronomers have discovered that the largest comet from the Oort Cloud, a shell of icy bodies at the very edge of the solar system, is bursting with chemical the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, the team discovered that C/2014 UN271, an 85-mile-wide (137 km) body around 10 times the size of the average comet and also known as Bernardinelli-Bernstein, is erupting with complex and evolving jets of carbon monoxide gas. Now located halfway between the sun and the solar system's furthest planet, Neptune (or 16.6 times the distance between the Earth and our star), C/2014 UN271 becomes the second-most distant comet originating from the Oort Cloud that has been seen to be chemically active. The observations are also the first direct evidence of what drives cometary activity when these icy bodies are far from the sun. "These measurements give us a look at how this enormous, icy world works," team leader and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center researcher Nathan Roth said in a statement. "We're seeing explosive outgassing patterns that raise new questions about how this comet will evolve as it continues its journey toward the inner solar system." ALMA was able to observe C/2014 UN271 despite its distance from the sun via the carbon monoxide in its atmosphere and its thermal emissions. Previously, the sensitivity of this ground-breaking instrument, composed of an array of 66 radio antennas located in the Atacama Desert region of northern Chile, allowed scientists to determine the size of the core or "nucleus" of the comet. Building upon this, the team was able to precisely determine the comet's entire size and the amount of dust that envelopes its core or "nucleus." This confirmed the status of C/2014 UN271 as the largest Oort Cloud comet ever to the clearer picture painted of this giant comet by ALMA was the first detection of molecular outgassing for C/2014 UN271. This has afforded scientists a rare look at the chemistry of icy bodies from the very edge of the solar system. Related Stories: — The sun is a 'runaway world collector' that can trap passing rogue planets — The solar system is teeming with 1 million 'alien invaders' from Alpha Centauri — Watch asteroid 2024 YR4 zoom harmlessly through space after risk of hitting Earth falls to near zero (video) C/2014 UN271 is approaching the sun, and as it does, the comet will begin to heat up, and more frozen material within it will turn gaseous and erupt from its icy comets are thought to be composed of unspoiled material left over from the formation of the solar system around 4.6 billion years ago, this could offer a glimpse at the conditions in which Earth and the other planets were team's research was published on June 12 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Science
- The Independent
Passing star could send Earth into the sun
A new study published in the journal Icarus suggests that passing field stars could cause more instability in our solar system than previously believed. Astronomers Nathan Kaib and Sean Raymond found that isolated models underestimate future orbital changes of giant planets, indicating that planets and Pluto are less stable than thought. The study identifies passing stars as the most probable trigger for instability within the solar system over the next four billion years. The gravitational tug from these stars could significantly increase the risk of instability for Mercury by 50-80%, and there is a 5% chance of chaotic gravitational interactions for Pluto over five billion years. The research also indicates an approximately 0.3% chance of Mars being lost through collision or ejection, and a 0.2% probability of Earth being involved in a planetary collision or ejected, a higher figure than previous findings.
New York Times
3 days ago
- Science
- New York Times
Edward Anders, Who Duped Nazis and Illuminated the Cosmos, Dies at 98
Edward Anders, a cosmochemist who unraveled mysteries about the solar system and the wildfires that helped wipe out the dinosaurs — and who then, in retirement, uncovered the identities of thousands of Jews from his hometown who were killed in the Holocaust — died on June 1 in San Mateo, Calif. He was 98. His death, in an assisted living facility, was confirmed by his son, George. Professor Anders emigrated to the United States in 1949, a few months after being called to testify at the Nuremberg trials about Nazi brutality in Liepaja, Latvia, in 1941 — events that he and his mother survived after she tricked soldiers into believing that she was of Aryan descent. His father wasn't as fortunate. Settling in New York City, Edward enrolled at Columbia University and studied chemistry. One day, his professor — a curator at the American Museum of Natural History — brought a handful of meteorite rocks to pass around in class. 'I found them tremendously exciting,' Professor Anders said in a 2001 interview with the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science. 'I would even use the word romantic. Here were samples from far beyond the Earth's orbit, older than any rock on Earth, and you can get your hands on them, and even do respectable research on them.' Professor Anders's research turned out to be more than merely respectable. At the University of Chicago, his academic home for more than 30 years beginning in 1955, he conducted a series of groundbreaking studies into the early history of the solar system. He demonstrated that meteorites were fragments from asteroids and not, as was believed at the time, debris from the moon or comets. He quantified the elements of the solar system in a journal article that has been cited more than 14,000 times. And he uncovered evidence of the global wildfires that helped lead to the dinosaurs' extinction. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Science
- The Independent
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.
