A fascinating new study suggests that a close encounter with a wayward star might explain the unusual orbits of certain objects at the edge of our Solar System. The star, which came within 110 astronomical units (AU) of the Sun, may have disrupted the orbits of small celestial bodies and even some of our planetary moons. To put that into context, that’s closer to us than Voyager 1, which is 164 AU from Earth.

Researchers used over 3,000 computer simulations to test this stellar flyby theory. Their results support the idea that the star’s gravity could explain the tilted, eccentric orbits of trans-Neptunian objects, including the distant dwarf planet Sedna, which is 937 AU from the Sun. Even more intriguingly, this stellar encounter may have caused some of the irregular moons of Saturn, Jupiter, and Neptune to be captured into their current orbits.

The findings shed new light on our Solar System’s history, offering a potential explanation for both the odd behavior of distant objects and the existence of retrograde moons. If confirmed, this event could mark a dramatic yet previously overlooked chapter in the evolution of our cosmic neighborhood.

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