In the boundless vastness of the universe everything seems so far away. However, in reality everything is not so far in cosmic context. The closest star system to the solar system is called Proxima Centauri. Its average distance from the Sun is about 140 light years. The middle part of this vast distance is seemingly empty. But, not forever.

stars in the solar system

A ring of icy asteroids called the Oort Cloud is considered the boundary wall of the Solar System. Since the formation of the solar system, many cosmic objects have passed by the Oort cloud, the border of the solar system, scientists have found.

What would happen if a stray star broke through our boundary wall and entered the solar system? If that star had appeared in the solar system with its team, i.e. the planets, how terrible would it have been for our planetary star? Let's try to find out today by going through logical thinking.

Did you know that such a stray star almost entered our solar system? Of course, that happened about 70 thousand years ago. The twinning red giant star is nicknamed Scholz's star. The star came right into the middle of the Oort cloud. Its distance from the Sun was only 0.8 light years. Later, however, the star changed its course and ran in the opposite direction. As a result, the solar family did not have to face much trouble.

Right now, another vagrant star named Gliese 710 is approaching the solar system. Its mass is about 60 percent more than that of the Sun. The star is running at a speed of about 52 thousand kilometers per hour across the galaxy. The question is, how much time will the star take to come close to the solar system? More importantly, if it enters the solar system, how much damage will it do?

How much damage an outer star will do when it enters the solar system depends on the star's size and trajectory. When Scholz's star passed through the Oort Cloud, it was about 5 times closer to our nearest star system, Proxima Centauri.

The star had no direct impact on Earth. However, at the same time, people were almost wiped out from the earth due to a terrible eruption. This may be a coincidence. However, scientists estimate that Scholz's star changed the orbits of about 10 percent of the solar system's comets and asteroids before it changed course.

Scholz's star was much smaller than the Sun, so the damage was not as great. But what if the star is a massive star like Gliese 710?

As mentioned earlier, the star is coming towards the solar system at a speed of 52 thousand kilometers per hour. However, there is no need to fear hearing this. According to scientists, it will not come around the solar system before the next 1290 thousand years. What will happen to this world or human civilization by then is a big question. So, there is nothing to worry about the star.

As this star larger than the Sun approaches the Solar System, it will first hit the icy asteroids in the Oort Cloud. These rocks will spread across the solar system.

Then every day about 170 meteors, comets and asteroids will hit the earth. The number is almost 10 times more than the present. Meteorites usually occur in uninhabited areas on Earth. These meteorites are quite small in size. From that perspective, a meteorite may seem like an innocuous event.

But, actually it is not. It is believed that the dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid. Humans could not witness the time of the dinosaurs. But then we saw how terrible asteroids or meteors can be for Earth. This is hundreds of years ago, in 1908, about 80 thousand trees in the forest area of ​​Siberia were uprooted and fell about 60 kilometers away due to the impact of a single asteroid. It is easy to imagine what a terrible disaster will be created if an asteroid of the same size falls in Dhaka, Bangladesh or any other populated area.

This is just the beginning. As we move a little further through the Oort Cloud, the orbits of all our planets begin to change. However, it will take several hundred thousand years to feel the effects of these events. There is also a great danger of planet-to-planet collisions due to changing orbits. However, planetary collisions are not the end. If the heavy star has its companions i.e. planetary satellites, then a terrible chaos of the universe will be created in the solar system. Incidents like planetary orbital deviations or planet-satellite collisions will occur. The entire structure of the solar system, including new stars, can change forever. In astronomical terms, this condition is called galactic soup.

As unbelievable as it sounds, about 40,000 stars have passed through the Oort Cloud since the formation of the Solar System. However, due to those stars, there was no impact on the solar system. Such approaches are normal when orbiting stars around galaxies. We often see this in the case of planets.

According to scientists, there is no danger of a star suddenly appearing in the vicinity of any solar system in the near future. The risk of an uninvited star entering the solar system is almost zero. Therefore, mankind has no reason to worry about these things.