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A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

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Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#21

Post by alex_duf »

d33 wrote: post #18
Heliosmaster wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly because our ancestors missed the opportunity to see such an event, as rare as we think it to be.

Actually perhaps it's better that way. Otherwise they could base some superstitious thinking on it that would stick if we were unlucky enough and there'd be yet another case of irrational thinking to be undone.

I would chose a belief about a moving star in a heart beat compared to a talking bush and a dude walking on water.

Edit: my point being, humans are superstitious in unpredictable way; A moving star wouldn't be more surprising than an eclipse. I'm sure our cultures and religions would have been roughly the same

Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#22

Post by chasing »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #7
eleitl wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can't have had sufficiently fast impact on Earth by disturbing orbits to create impactors, given the distance.

Isn't the article mostly about how it did influence Oort cloud object orbits? Thirty-six identified.

That's a minuscule number and "influenced" doesn't necessarily mean "aimed them at the Earth." There's a lot of space out there which it takes things a lot of time to move through. It takes the Earth a year to go around the Sun. And the Oort Cloud is, like, 100,000 times further away from the Sun than we are.

Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#24

Post by vanattab »

d33 wrote: post #18
Heliosmaster wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly because our ancestors missed the opportunity to see such an event, as rare as we think it to be.

Actually perhaps it's better that way. Otherwise they could base some superstitious thinking on it that would stick if we were unlucky enough and there'd be yet another case of irrational thinking to be undone.

I have never been able to understand why so many other scientists and "rationalist" look back on humans early "superstitious" ideas with contempt. To my mind these superstitious ideas are the beginning of the rationalist mindset. These ideas are people's attempts to explain and understand how the world works. I am certain that some of the ideas that many of us hold now will be thought quite silly in a few hundred years.

Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#25

Post by Raphmedia »

chasing wrote: post #22
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the article mostly about how it did influence Oort cloud object orbits? Thirty-six identified.

That's a minuscule number and "influenced" doesn't necessarily mean "aimed them at the Earth." There's a lot of space out there which it takes things a lot of time to move through. It takes the Earth a year to go around the Sun. And the Oort Cloud is, like, 100,000 times further away from the Sun than we are.

Even if you ignore possible asteroid impacts, there's no telling what kind of issues having red dwarf star & its brown dwarf companion so close can create.

Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#27

Post by keymone »

jawilson2 wrote: post #11
keymone wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck ?

This is the coolest part of that page: "A 2005 study from Rutgers University theorized that the pre-1492 native populations of the Americas are the descendants of only 70 individuals who crossed the land bridge between Asia and North America." https://www.livescience.com/289-north-america-settled-70-peo...

this is even cooler: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve

Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#29

Post by lisper »

nsxwolf wrote: post #23

Do large, bright stars ever pass that close? What would that look like?

> Do large, bright stars ever pass that close?

Yes, but it's extremely rare.

> What would that look like?

Not much. The Scholz flyby was at 0.6-0.8 light years, the same order of magnitude as the distance to Alpha Centauri. It would just look like a star, probably not even a particularly bright one.

Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#30

Post by ukaric »

jawilson2 wrote: post #11
keymone wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck ?

This is the coolest part of that page: "A 2005 study from Rutgers University theorized that the pre-1492 native populations of the Americas are the descendants of only 70 individuals who crossed the land bridge between Asia and North America." https://www.livescience.com/289-north-america-settled-70-peo...

You learn everyday this is awesome find.
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