An online mini-documentary series discussed what would happen to Earth and its neighbouring planets if a star as massive as the Sun suddenly appears in the Solar System. According to the series, having two Suns within the same system would set off various cosmic events that could lead to the complete destruction of Earth.
The unfortunate and terrifying scenario was tackled in a recent video released by the YouTube channel What If. The video explained that this kind of event could happen if a rogue star drifts towards the Solar System.
Daily Asteroid Strikes
Once this happens, the gravitational pull of the rogue star would disrupt the space rocks within the Oort cloud, which is a region near the edge of the Solar System filled with icy debris. This could cause different kinds of space rocks to whiz around in Earth's neighbourhood and increase the number of asteroids and meteors hitting the planet every day.
"The rogue star would make its way into the Oort cloud," the narrator of the video explained. "At this point, it wouldn't affect us directly, but it would send massive chunks of space rocks showering the Solar System. About 170 meteors, comets and asteroids would hit the Earth every day. That's ten times more than what's bombarding our planet right now."
Additional Sun and Planets
Unfortunately, constantly getting hit by asteroids and other space rocks on a daily basis won't be the worst effect of a second sun will have on Earth. Depending on the size of the rogue star, it could be massive enough to have its own system composed of interstellar planets and moons.
This means that if the star enters the Solar System, it will be dragging its own set of planets and natural satellites along with it. Aside from the massive star, the sudden appearance of other cosmic objects in the system would affect the gravitational fields of other planets including Earth.
Interplanetary Collisions
The disruption caused by the arrival of the secondary sun and its planets would affect the orbits of the original inhabitants of the Solar System such as Mars, Saturn, Venus and Neptune. This could cause all of the planets and moons within the system to collide with one another. If Earth manages to survive a direct collision, it would most likely get hit by the huge chunks of debris that came from the massive cosmic objects that were already destroyed.
"If the rogue star had other planets and moons following it, our Solar System would turn into a galactic soup, with stars and planets being pulled out of their orbits," the video stated. "Massive collisions would create a rippling effect, disrupting planetary orbits even more. Eventually, the Earth would be knocked out of its orbit too, if it wasn't already destroyed by meteor storms and the remnants of other planets."
