(ORDO NEWS) — It seems inconceivable that our planet would suddenly leave its home system. However, can this happen, and if so, what will happen to our planet in this case?
The Earth may indeed leave the solar system, but nothing good will happen after that.
Liu Cixin’s short story “The Wandering Earth” (first published in July 2000) describes a scenario in which the planet’s leaders agree to move the Earth out of the solar system to avoid an imminent solar flare that is expected to wipe out all the terrestrial planets. This story is, of course, fictional, but could the Earth ever really leave the solar system?
Can the Earth leave the system?
According to astronomers, this is very unlikely. However, “unlikely” does not mean that it is “impossible” – there is still an option in which, in theory, the Earth could leave its native star system.
To do this, it must be displaced from orbit by an interstellar object flying near the Earth – massive enough to gravitationally affect our planet.
With such a convergence of two objects, the Earth and the celestial body would exchange energy and momentum, and the Earth’s orbit would be disturbed. If the object were fast, massive, and passed close enough, it could put Earth into an evacuation orbit out of the solar system.
If the Earth still manages to fly out of the system, what will happen to it? According to scientists, our planet will fly into interstellar space and wander through space until it is captured by another star system or a black hole.
Earth is unlikely to retain its atmosphere: Earth’s global climate is very delicate due to the delicate balance of radiation coming from the sun and energy dissipated in deep space.
All energy on Earth will disappear, because we receive all of it from the Sun. Life on the planet will be doomed to extinction – sooner or later the Earth in such a scenario will turn into a lifeless rocky ball.
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