In Lu Sechin’s short story “The Wandering Land” (The Wandering Earth), the writer depicts the scenario of the Earth’s exit from our solar system to escape from a dangerous solar flare coming to destroy all the planets. It’s a science fiction story, but could the Earth really leave the solar system?
“It’s unlikely,” Matteo Sirioti, aerospace engineer and lecturer in space systems engineering at the University of Glasgow in the UK, told Live Science. However, he made it clear that “unlikely” did not mean “impossible”, and proposed a theory by which Earth could leave the solar system.
And he added: “The Earth could move out of its orbit if a huge object flying through space and entering the solar system passed by it. In this scenario, known as “flying” (Flyby), the Earth and the body exchange energy and momentum, disrupting the Earth’s orbit. If the object is fast, massive, and close enough, it can help the Earth escape its orbit.”
For his part, Timothy Davis, lecturer in physics and astronomy at Cardiff University, agreed that the Earth could theoretically be “kicked” out of the solar system, and explained his own hypothesis on how it might have happened. He said: “The planets as they are, are now in stable orbits around the sun, but if the sun encounters another star, the gravitational interactions of these bodies can distort these orbits, and may cause the Earth to be displaced from the solar system.”
However, Davis noted that while the scenario is possible, it’s highly unlikely – at least for the foreseeable future.
Davis noted that such stellar encounters are very rare. For example, the star Glass 710 It is expected to get close to the sun within about a million years, but even this flyby is unlikely to disturb the planets.
While it’s unlikely that outside forces will force the Earth out of the solar system any time soon, could humanity build machines capable of moving the planet out of its way to independence from the sun?
“The energy required to remove the Earth from its orbit and eject it from the Solar System is enormous, the equivalent of detonating 1 sextillion (1 with 21 zeros after) nuclear bombs simultaneously,” Davis said.
Although such an event is far from likely, what would happen if Earth separated from the solar system? And what effects would there be if our planet ended up permanently plunging into the depths of the universe?
Sirioti said: The Earth’s flight in space will lead to it being picked up or swallowed up by another star or black hole, and if the Earth leaves the solar system, it will likely lead to the end of life on the planet.
It is unlikely that the atmosphere, but the terrestrial climate, will remain very sensitive due to the delicate balance of radiation from the sun and energy circulating in space, Sirioti added. Davis agreed that most life on Earth would not survive this catastrophic step away from the solar system. Pointing out that most of the energy used by living organisms on Earth stems from the sun, either directly (such as plants that perform photosynthesis), or indirectly (such as the herbivores and carnivores that eat them).
Davis explained that some organisms may survive for a while, but eventually perish.
Sirioti predicts that our galaxy is on its way to colliding with Andromeda. [أقرب مجرة مجاورة لنا] In about 4.5 billion years. What will cause a huge disturbance in the solar system! He pointed out that it is also expected that the sun will expand and swallow the Earth during the next five billion years.
So while Earth will eventually leave the solar system one way or another, it’s not something we should worry about for a few billion years.