Scientists from the Gaia mission have determined the timing of an asteroid-cometary collapse on Earth, when the orange dwarf Gliese 710 enters the gravitational limits of the solar system, according to the European Space Agency.
According to calculations, in about 1.3 million years, Gliese 710 will be at a distance of about 16 thousand astronomical units from the Sun. This is roughly equal to the distance from the Sun to the Oort cloud, the outermost region of the solar system that contains asteroids, comets, and planetoids. On the other hand, it is several times smaller than the radius of the Hill sphere, which defines the boundaries of the solar system.
The approach of Gliese 710 to the Sun will lead to a gravitational disturbance of the orbits of celestial bodies from the Oort cloud, some of them will begin to migrate into the interior of the solar system, where the Earth is located.
Scientists came to similar conclusions by presenting the second edition of the Gaia catalog, which contains information on the position and movement of more than half a billion stars in the Milky Way.
The boundaries of the solar system are defined in two ways. The first is based on tracing the position of the heliopause - the area separating the heliosphere of the luminary, the magnetic analogue of the planetary atmosphere, from interstellar space, the second - the boundaries of the Hill sphere.