credit: MICHAEL OSADCIW/UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
An international team of researchers have found that a big star, acknowledged as Scholz’s star, once came real close to our Solar System around 70,000 years go.
An international team of researchers have found that a big star, acknowledged as Scholz’s star, once came real close to our Solar System around 70,000 years go. It is also believed that no other star has ever approached our Solar System this close. The researchers have also mentioned that Scholz’s star came as near as five times closer than our closest neighbor Proxima Centauri, which is approximately 4.24 light years away from the sun.
The red colored Scholz’s star passed through the outer part of our Solar System, which is also known as Oort Cloud. It is also reported that when Scholz’s star passed near our Solar System, it was accompanied by another object called a brown dwarf. According to the indepth observation of star, it is reported that around 70,000 years ago the star passed through the range of 0.8 light years away from sun. If you have noticed the comparison, Proxima Centauri is about 4.2 light years away. According to researchers from University of Rochester at New York, they strongly believe that Sholz’s star usually travels through the outer Oort Cloud region, a part of space which is loaded with billions of comets. The region is believed to be as large as 100,000 astronomical units (AU).
One AU can be measured as the distance between the earth and sun. Scholz’s star is currently located at 20 light years away. Since the star is following a gradual oblique path, its either moving away from Earth or /4/get into a close encounter with Earth. Scientists from University of Rochester, New York also believe that Scholz’s star did not initiate any disturbance in Earth’s atmosphere, and it is barely a possibility that this star triggered any meteor showers. Scientists have also mentioned that Sholz’s star /4/appear to buzz the sun approximately 70,000 years ago; however, it is common for stars to pass through Oort Cloud every 100,000 years.
In addition, the close passing by of Sholz’s star is considered as one of the rare moves, as mathematical calculations suggest that this kind of move usually happens once every nine million years.
Source: BBC
