Passing Stars Altered Earth's Orbit Millions Of Years Ago, Finds Study
NDTV
To piece together what happened in Earth's 4.5-billion-year lifespan requires extensive scientific research. The research team ran simulations to predict past orbital evolution of our planet.
Stars that pass by our solar system sometimes have profound impact on the planets. According to a new research, such an event may have changed Earth's orbit enough to wreak havoc on the climate. The event occurred millions of years ago and Earth's temperature rose by up to 8 degrees Celsius. Titled 'Passing Stars as an Important Driver of Paleoclimate and the solar system's Orbital Evolution', the research has been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The lead researchers are Nathan A Kaib and Sean Raymond.
"Perturbations - a minor deviation in the course of a celestial body, caused by the gravitational attraction of a neighbouring body - from passing stars alter the long-term orbital evolution of the sun's planets, including Earth," said Mr Kaib, Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute.
"One reason this is important is because the geologic record shows that changes in the Earth's orbital eccentricity accompany fluctuations in the Earth's climate. If we want to best search for the causes of ancient climate anomalies, it is important to have an idea of what Earth's orbit looked like during those episodes," he added.
