Is there any rogue star that will eventually end life on the Earth?

Not that we know of. At least not for a few million years at least. Astronomers have identified all of the stars within 25 parsecs of the Earth, and these are not on any orbits relative to the Sun that will bring them closer than a light year from the Sun. At a velocity difference of 10 kilometers a second, a star travels 3.24 light years in about 100,000 years. Still, as astronomers catalog more and more stars, we may someday find a star that could come uncomfortably close to the sun; perhaps enough to capture one of the outer planets. Don't loose any sleep over it happening any time soon, however! There are a million stars or more in a volume of space 300 light years in radius. Any one of these could be a problem for us.


Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
Return to Ask the Astronomer.