Interstellar Asteroids Could Originate From Alpha Centauri, Says Paper – Forbes
Recreation of habitable planets in the Alpha Centauri systemInterstellar asteroids visiting our solar system from parts unknown used to be the stuff of science fiction. But today, we know of at least two such bodies Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov respectively detected in 2017 and 2019. But from where did they originate?In a paper accepted for publication by The Planetary Science Journal, the authors write that their simulations indicate that at any given moment our solar system is rife with asteroids, comets and perhaps even tiny particles that originated from the Alpha Centauri triple star system.We predict an upper limit of about one million 100-meter or larger Alpha Centauri objects within the solar system, Cole Gregg, a doctoral candidate in astronomy at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, told me via email. The problem is detecting these objects is only a one in a million chance, he says.The 5 billion-year-old Alpha Centauri system is currently moving almost directly at the Sun.Material ejected from Alpha Centauri at relatively low speeds (less than 2 km per second) could reach our solar system and might already be present here, says Gregg. The influx of this material is anticipated to peak when Alpha Centauri is closest to us in about 28,000 years at approximately 3.2 light years away, he says.The only confirmed planets in the Alpha Centauri system are around the star, Proxima Centauri.A system that has planets aids in the instability of orbits around the star, as gravitational interactions can provide kicks of energy that can allow objects to escape the gravitational pull of the star itself, says Gregg. Without planets, other mechanisms can still eject material, such as close encounters with other stars, galactic tides (the gravitational influence of the Milky Way itself), and for smaller particles, even stellar radiation, he says.The authors’ simulations consider the position of the sun within our Milky Way Galaxy, as well as the motion of our sun and stars.With this, we integrate the motion of the sun and Alpha Centauri backward 100 million years, says Gregg. We then model for possible ejection speeds to simulate particles being ejected from the system and examine whether any of these Alpha Centauri particles reach our solar system, he says.The material we see reaching the Solar System from Alpha Centauri in this simulation is during a ten-million-year period, says Gregg. This is also the time the solar system is passing through the densest region of Alpha Centauri particles, he says.Amazingly, even particles no larger than a few microns in size are able to survive the journey from Alpha Centauri.There have been and still are dust detectors on spacecraft which have detected very small interstellar particles, says Gregg.There could be as many as ten Alpha Centauri meteors detectable in Earth’s atmosphere per year, note the paper’s authors.If material from Alpha Centauri already exists in the solar system, it suggests the galaxy functions as an interconnected network, where stars exchange material, elements, and potentially even the ingredients for life, says Gregg. This can redefine our understanding of the Milky Way—not as a collection of separate stars but as a dynamic, evolving ecosystem, he says.We are interested in nearby stars like Beta Pictoris that have known debris disks and potentially harbor planets, says Gregg. This increases the possibility of a large amount of material being released by the system and transferring it to our solar system, he says.One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service. We’ve summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:So, how can you be a power user?Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site’s Terms of Service.
