Scholz's Star
Scholz's Star is a nearby star which flew through the Solar System's Oort cloud about 70,000 years ago. It is also called WISE 0720-0846 (more fully: WISE J072003.20-084651.2.[1][2]
This binary star system is now about 17–23 light-years (5.1–7.2 parsecs) from the Sun.[3] It is in the southern constellation Monoceros near the Galactic plane. The primary is a red dwarf with 86±2 times the mass of Jupiter. The secondary is probably a T5 brown dwarf. The system has 0.15 solar masses.[3] The system has an apparent magnitude of 18.3,[3] and is about 3–10 billion years old.[3]
Stars probably pass through the Oort cloud every 100,000 years or so. Comets disturbed by the Oort cloud will take about two million years to get to the inner Solar System.[4]
References
- ↑ Rincon, Paul 2015. Alien star system buzzed the Sun. BBC News Science & Technology. [1]
- ↑ Closest known flyby of star to our solar system: dim star passed through Oort cloud 70,000 years ago. ScienceDaily. 17 February 2015. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150217114121.htm.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Mamajek, Eric E. et al 2015. The closest known flyby of a star to the Solar System. Astrophysical Journal 800 (1). [2]
- ↑ Mamajek FAQ. [3]