Passing stars changed the orbits of planets in the solar system

Re:Passing stars changed the orbits of planets in the solar ... by marsissippi on Thursday February 15, 2024 @04:51PM (#39389522)

Great short article. Takeaway: because of ancient star flybys

"the uncertainties of Earth’s past orbit make it difficult to be confident more than 50 million years. And that has a significant impact on paleoclimate studies."

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Re:Passing stars changed the orbits of planets in the solar ... by jvanderbot on Thursday February 15, 2024 @07:27PM (#39391355)

That's actually fascinating! Among other things passing stars can do, I imagine, is knock comets out of the Ort cloud? So speaking of dinosaurs...

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Re:Passing stars changed the orbits of planets in the solar ... by hinkley on Thursday February 15, 2024 @09:06PM (#39392225)

The butterfly effect, where the 'butterfly' is a stellar object.

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Re:Passing stars changed the orbits of planets in the solar ... by marsissippi on Friday February 16, 2024 @01:45AM (#39393981)

Lisa Randall's book "Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs" has that vibe (not about passing stars, but about the solar system passing through an area of the galaxy thick with dark matter - but the imagined impact is the same).

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Re:Passing stars changed the orbits of planets in the solar ... by vardump on Friday February 16, 2024 @05:11PM (#39403631)

Maybe dinosaurs jumped to another star that time and arranged some fireworks to ensure no one will follow?

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