by More than 1 million “interstellar objects” The size of the statue of liberty could currently float unseen in the outer solar system, new simulations are suggesting. The big cosmic invaders, who traveled here from our nearest great neighbors, is unlikely that they will ever come close to the earth. However, smaller interstellar particles probably get on our planet every year, says the study.
So far, scientists have only detected two confirmed interstellar objects in the solar system: the unusually elongated object ‘Oumuamua, which some people Incorrectly probably an alien probe was When it was seen in 2017, and Comet BorisovIt was discovered in 2019. Both objects, which have long since disappeared, were sailed through our cosmic neighborhood at high speeds, making them clear that they came from the interstellar space.
However, scientists have long suspected that many other alien objects Go through the solar system that is not detected every yearAnd that even more intruders probably live here permanently. Various spacecraft, including the now deceased Cassini probe of NASA, have previously also detected Small interstellar dust particles Streaming through the solar system.
In the new study, uploaded 5 February to the pre-print server ArxivResearchers simulated how much interstellar material in the last 100 million years was cast from Alpha Centauri – the nearest star system – the nearest star system -. Based on these calculations, the researchers predict that there are currently around 1 million “macroscopic objects” from Alpha Centauri, each wider than 330 feet (100 meters), which are currently moving within our solar system. (These results have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed magazine, but are accepted for publication in the Planetary Science Journal.)
Unlike ‘Oumuamua and Borisov, these hypothetical intruders are permanently caught by the gravity of the sun and most of them are now probably living in the Oortwolk – a gigantic reservoir of comets and asteroids in the neighborhood The edge of the solar system. As a result, they are almost impossible to recognize.
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The study team also simulated the smaller particles from Alfa Centauri travel to the solar system. The researchers believe that all particles above 100 micrometers (0.004 inch) can theoretically make the journey between the systems and that about 10 of these particles probably burn every year as meteors in the atmosphere of the earth.
Stellar neighbors
Alpha Centauri consists of three stars: Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, who are both sun -like stars that run each other in a binary system, and Proxima Centauri, a smaller red dwarf star who circles the binary pair.
Proxima Centauri is the most famous star of the earth at a distance of approximately 4.25 light years and is the only star in the system with a confirmed planet, known as Proxima Centauri B.
The entire system is currently traveling to us and will reach the nearest point sun In about 28,000 years. When this happens, the number of objects that comes in will increase exponentially for a while because the gap between the two systems will be considerably reduced, the researchers wrote.
The team also noted that the material speed that is cast out of our solar system is probably very similar to Alfa Centauri, which means that similar levels of interstellar material from our cosmic neighborhood are caught by our stellar neighbors.
Better insight into how materials transfer between Alpha Centauri and the solar system “opens new paths for exploring the mutual connection of stellar systems and the potential for material exchange in the Melkweg,” the researchers wrote in the newspaper.
