Astronomers
from the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of
Cambridge have verified that the early system was gravitationally
disturbed 70,000 years ago by the flyby of a small reddish star named
Scholz's Star.
Analyzing the nearly 340 objects of our solar
system with hyperbolic orbits (very open v-shaped orbits), the
scientists discovered that many of the trajectories of these objects
would have been influenced by the passage of Scholz's star.
"Using numerical simulations we have calculated the radiants or
positions in the sky from which all these hyperbolic objects seem to
come," explained Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, who together with the other
coauthors published the results in the MNRAS Letters journal.
"In
principle," he added, "one would expect those positions to be evenly
distributed in the sky, particularly if these objects come from the Oort
cloud; however, what we find is very different: a statistically
significant accumulation of radiants. The pronounced over-density
appears projected in the direction of the constellation of Gemini, which
fits the close encounter with Scholz´s star."
Read more about this fascinating story at: https://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=184724&CultureCode=en
Or read the full study at: https://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/article-abstract/476/1/L1/4840245?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Image Credit: Michael Osadciw/University of Rochester.
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Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Scholz's Star Grazed the Early Solar System 70,000 Years Ago
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