This Is Not the Way We Usually Imagine the World Will End

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By Katherine Kornei, The New York Times. 

Excerpt: If our species manages to hang on for a few billion additional years, we might be in for a wild ride — stars passing in the vicinity of the sun could cause planets in our solar system to collide or even be ejected, according to a paper published last month in the journal Icarus. The findings even suggest a scenario in which our world ends not consumed by the sun, but in a carom prompted by the powers of gravity. ...The researchers found that the triple threat is a massive star that makes a close approach to the sun at a relatively low velocity, magnifying its gravitational effect. But the alignment of all these attributes is rare. “A huge fraction of stellar passages are inconsequential to our solar system,” Dr. Kaib said. The researchers found that 0.5 percent of their simulations resulted in planets colliding or a planet being ejected from the solar system.... 

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