Polish astronomers have found that in about a million years, the star Gliese 710 will pass dangerously close to the solar system, which could cause the bombardment of the Earth by comets from the Oort cloud and lead to a global catastrophe. Briefly about the research of scientists, the website Gizmodo reports.
Gliese 710 is currently 64 light years from and approaching the Sun. After 1.35 million years, it will reduce this distance to 13 thousand astronomical units (an astronomical unit is equal to the distance from the Earth to the Sun), or 77 light days. Thus, the star will be located within the Oort cloud - a spherical region around the solar system, which scientists believe is formed by icy objects and is the source of comets.
Researchers believe that Gliese's gravity will change the trajectories of cosmic bodies and direct many of them towards Earth. Given that, according to new estimates, the star will be almost five times closer than previously thought, the risk of a comet collision with our planet, which could lead to the disappearance of life on it, is very high. Approximately every year, up to 10 comets will fly to the Sun, and this situation will persist for 3-4 million years.
Gliese 710 is a relatively faint orange dwarf with a mass of about 0.6 times the mass of the Sun.
