Earth May Have To Deal With Cataclysm Due To Star’s Close Encounter With Solar System

Incoming star, Gliese 710, could rain comets during a close encounter with the solar system in the next million years, revealed scientists.

Scientists expect the star, Gliese 710, to have a really close call with the solar system. Though this might occur not before a million years, a recent analysis has revealed that this star might come even more closer than estimated. This near brush with the solar system, as close as 13,365 AU of the Sun, might result in very serious and dangerous swarms of comets, scientists predict. To explain in more layman's terms, 1 AU is considered as the average distance of the Earth to the Sun or 1.2 trillion miles.

According to a latest study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, even though Gliese 710 is presently 64 lightyears away from Earth, its path is directed toward the planet Earth. Though it will take about 1.35 million years for this cosmic event to take place, it has evoked analyses and study by astronomers, Forbes reported.

Scientists predict that the star, Gliese 710, will journey through the Oort Cloud. The Oort Cloud actually surrounds the Sun and is like a layer of ice and rock much like a huge bubble. When the star traverses through the Oort Cloud, it might cause a huge disturbance to the rocks positioned presently in the outer layers. During this comic event, there could be a shower of comets into the solar system, which could also spur a cataclysmic event with the Earth.

According to recent calculations done by astronomers, the star will be much closer to the solar system than previously estimated, as mentioned earlier. As it approaches, this extent of proximity to the solar system will appear as the fastest and brightest object in the night sky, according to Gizmodo.

"[This] event [will be] the strongest disrupting encounter in the future and history of the solar system," the authors of this study said.