New Study Explores Impact of Interstellar Visitor on Solar System's Planetary Orbits

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Scientists have presented a groundbreaking study suggesting that an interstellar object, potentially eight times the mass of Jupiter, may have significantly altered the orbits of planets in our solar system. The research, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, indicates that this cosmic visitor could have passed close to Mars around four billion years ago, affecting the trajectories of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Traditionally, planetary orbits in the solar system are expected to lie neatly in concentric circles. However, current observations show that planets move in various three-dimensional paths. To investigate this anomaly, researchers conducted extensive simulations of 50,000 scenarios over a period of 20 million years to analyze the conditions under which a large alien object could have reshaped planetary orbits.

According to the findings, the interstellar object would have come within approximately 1.69 astronomical units of the Sun, which is slightly beyond Mars' current orbit. This close proximity would have enabled the object's gravity to influence the orbits of neighboring planets significantly.

The study challenges previous theories that attributed orbital irregularities to interactions among the planets themselves. Instead, it posits that a singular encounter with a foreign celestial body could explain the observed discrepancies. The authors emphasize the need for further research into the potential effects of substellar objects on minor planets in the asteroid and trans-Neptunian belts.

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