Detecting strange stars invades the solar system

Research by American scientists shows that a red dwarf once glided through the solar system 70,000 years ago at close range.

This star is called WISE J072003.20-084651.2 , or Scholz . It is about 20 light-years away, in the constellation Monoceros (Unicorn).

Simulation of a red dwarf that once flew over the solar system 70,000 years ago.(Photo: University of Rochester)

According to the University of Rochester expert team, it is with a "companion" a brown dwarf that passes through the Sun 70,000 years ago, moving through comets in the outer ring of the Oort cloud (surrounding the Solar System). . The star appears at 0.8 light-years away, the closest approach the scientist has ever recorded.

"Radial velocity measurements show that it seems to have escaped from the vicinity of the Sun. We have found that this star must have passed very close to the past , " NBC News quoted Eric Mamajek. , head of research, said.

Scholz is said to be very faint and cannot be observed with the naked eye from Earth. However, according to Mamajek and his colleagues, the ancestors of humans in Africa could have seen sparks caused by magnetic fields.

Scientists are interested in the star's orbit after finding it moving at high speed. They calculated Scholz's relative motion based on observations from telescopes located in South Africa and Chile.