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Scholz's Star
Binary stellar systems in the constellation Monoceros

Scholz's Star /ˈʃoʊlz(əz)/ (WISE designation WISE 0720−0846 or fully WISE J072003.20−084651.2) is a dim binary stellar system 22 light-years (6.8 parsecs) from the Sun in the constellation Monoceros near the galactic plane. It was discovered in 2013 by astronomer Ralf-Dieter Scholz. In 2015, Eric Mamajek and collaborators reported that the system passed through the Solar System's Oort cloud roughly 70,000 years ago in a stellar encounter, and dubbed it Scholz's Star.

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Characteristics

The primary is a red dwarf with a stellar classification of M9±1 and 86±2 Jupiter masses.3 The secondary is probably a T5 brown dwarf with 65±12 Jupiter masses.4 The system has 0.15 solar masses.5 The pair orbit at a distance of about 0.8 astronomical units (120 million kilometres; 74 million miles)6 with a period of roughly 4 years.7 The system has an apparent magnitude of 18.3,8 and is estimated to be between 3 and 10 billion years old.9 With a parallax of 166 mas (0.166 arcseconds), about 80 star systems are known to be closer to the Sun.10 It is a late discovery, as far as nearby stars go, because of its dim magnitude and that past efforts concentrated on high-proper-motion objects.

Solar System flyby

Estimates indicate that the WISE 0720−0846 system passed about 52,000 astronomical units (0.25 parsecs; 0.82 light-years) from the Sun about 70,000 years ago.111213 Ninety-eight percent of mathematical simulations of the star system's trajectory indicated that it passed through the Solar System's Oort cloud, or within 120,000 AU (0.58 pc; 1.9 ly) of the Sun.14 Comets perturbed from the Oort cloud would require roughly two million years to get to the inner Solar System.15 Consisting of the smaller and dimmer red and a brown dwarf star even at closest approach the system would have only had an apparent magnitude of about 11.4, too dim for the unaided eye, but with instruments would have been best viewed from high latitudes in the northern hemisphere.16 However 70,000 years ago humans were still Stone Age Middle Paleolithic hunter-gathers.

In 2018, research was published indicating that disturbance of the Oort cloud will have a greater effect than initial research had indicated.17 1819

In a recent estimate, WISE J0720−0846AB passed within 68.7 ± 2.0 kAU of the Sun 80.5 ± 0.7 kyr ago.20 A later recalculation of the impact parameters using updated Solar System data showed that the perihelion distance during the encounter had a median value of 0.330 pc with a 90% probability of having come within 0.317–0.345 pc of the Sun; the associated time of perihelion passage was determined to be between 78.6–81.1 kyr ago with 90% confidence, with a most likely value of 79.9 kyr.21

A star is expected to pass through the Oort cloud every 100,000 years or so.22 An approach as close or closer than 52,000 AU is expected to occur about every 9 million years.23 In about 1.4 million years, Gliese 710 will come to a perihelion of between 8,800 and 13,700 AU.24

Naming

The star was first discovered to be a nearby one by astronomer Ralf-Dieter Scholz,25 announced on arXiv in November 2013. Given the importance of the system having passed so close to the Solar System in prehistorical times, Eric Mamajek and collaborators dubbed the system Scholz's star in their paper discussing the star's velocity and past trajectory.26

See also

References

  1. Mamajek, Eric E.; Barenfeld, Scott A.; Ivanov, Valentin D. (2015). "The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System". The Astrophysical Journal. 800 (1): L17. arXiv:1502.04655. Bibcode:2015ApJ...800L..17M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/800/1/L17. S2CID 40618530. /wiki/The_Astrophysical_Journal

  2. Mamajek, Eric E.; Barenfeld, Scott A.; Ivanov, Valentin D. (2015). "The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System". The Astrophysical Journal. 800 (1): L17. arXiv:1502.04655. Bibcode:2015ApJ...800L..17M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/800/1/L17. S2CID 40618530. /wiki/The_Astrophysical_Journal

  3. Mamajek, Eric E.; Barenfeld, Scott A.; Ivanov, Valentin D. (2015). "The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System". The Astrophysical Journal. 800 (1): L17. arXiv:1502.04655. Bibcode:2015ApJ...800L..17M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/800/1/L17. S2CID 40618530. /wiki/The_Astrophysical_Journal

  4. Mamajek, Eric E.; Barenfeld, Scott A.; Ivanov, Valentin D. (2015). "The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System". The Astrophysical Journal. 800 (1): L17. arXiv:1502.04655. Bibcode:2015ApJ...800L..17M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/800/1/L17. S2CID 40618530. /wiki/The_Astrophysical_Journal

  5. Mamajek, Eric E.; Barenfeld, Scott A.; Ivanov, Valentin D. (2015). "The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System". The Astrophysical Journal. 800 (1): L17. arXiv:1502.04655. Bibcode:2015ApJ...800L..17M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/800/1/L17. S2CID 40618530. /wiki/The_Astrophysical_Journal

  6. Mamajek, Eric E.; Barenfeld, Scott A.; Ivanov, Valentin D. (2015). "The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System". The Astrophysical Journal. 800 (1): L17. arXiv:1502.04655. Bibcode:2015ApJ...800L..17M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/800/1/L17. S2CID 40618530. /wiki/The_Astrophysical_Journal

  7. Burgasser, Adam J.; et al. (2015). "Radio Emission and Orbital Motion from the Close-encounter Star–Brown Dwarf Binary WISE J072003.20–084651.2". The Astronomical Journal. 150 (6). 180. arXiv:1508.06332. Bibcode:2015AJ....150..180B. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/150/6/180. S2CID 26828457. /wiki/ArXiv_(identifier)

  8. Mamajek, Eric E.; Barenfeld, Scott A.; Ivanov, Valentin D. (2015). "The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System". The Astrophysical Journal. 800 (1): L17. arXiv:1502.04655. Bibcode:2015ApJ...800L..17M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/800/1/L17. S2CID 40618530. /wiki/The_Astrophysical_Journal

  9. Mamajek, Eric E.; Barenfeld, Scott A.; Ivanov, Valentin D. (2015). "The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System". The Astrophysical Journal. 800 (1): L17. arXiv:1502.04655. Bibcode:2015ApJ...800L..17M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/800/1/L17. S2CID 40618530. /wiki/The_Astrophysical_Journal

  10. "THE ONE HUNDRED NEAREST STAR SYSTEMS". RECONS (Research Consortium On Nearby Stars). Retrieved 2015-02-18. http://recons.org/TOP100.posted.htm

  11. Mamajek, Eric E.; Barenfeld, Scott A.; Ivanov, Valentin D. (2015). "The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System". The Astrophysical Journal. 800 (1): L17. arXiv:1502.04655. Bibcode:2015ApJ...800L..17M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/800/1/L17. S2CID 40618530. /wiki/The_Astrophysical_Journal

  12. "Featured Research: Closest known flyby of star to our solar system: Dim star passed through Oort Cloud 70,000 years ago". Science Daily. 17 February 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150217114121.htm

  13. de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl; de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos (10 May 2018). "An Independent Confirmation of the Future Flyby of Gliese 710 to the Solar System Using Gaia DR2". Research Notes of the AAS. 2 (2): 30. arXiv:1805.02644. Bibcode:2018RNAAS...2...30D. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/aac2d0. S2CID 119467738. https://doi.org/10.3847%2F2515-5172%2Faac2d0

  14. Mamajek, Eric E.; Barenfeld, Scott A.; Ivanov, Valentin D. (2015). "The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System". The Astrophysical Journal. 800 (1): L17. arXiv:1502.04655. Bibcode:2015ApJ...800L..17M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/800/1/L17. S2CID 40618530. /wiki/The_Astrophysical_Journal

  15. Mamajek, Eric E.; Barenfeld, Scott A.; Ivanov, Valentin D. (2015). "The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System". The Astrophysical Journal. 800 (1): L17. arXiv:1502.04655. Bibcode:2015ApJ...800L..17M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/800/1/L17. S2CID 40618530. /wiki/The_Astrophysical_Journal

  16. Mamajek, Eric. "FAQ". Retrieved 2015-02-18. http://www.pas.rochester.edu/~emamajek/flyby.html

  17. de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl; Aarseth, Sverre J. (6 February 2018). "Where the Solar system meets the solar neighbourhood: patterns in the distribution of radiants of observed hyperbolic minor bodies". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters. 476 (1): L1 – L5. arXiv:1802.00778. Bibcode:2018MNRAS.476L...1D. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/sly019. https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmnrasl%2Fsly019

  18. Warren, Matt (2018-03-22). "Prehistoric visit from nearby star disturbed comets in our solar system". Science. Retrieved 2023-04-09. https://www.science.org/news/2018/03/prehistoric-visit-nearby-star-disturbed-comets-our-solar-system

  19. Dvorsky, George (2018-03-21). "A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago". Gizmodo. Retrieved 2023-04-09. https://gizmodo.com/a-visiting-star-jostled-our-solar-system-70-000-years-a-1823954398

  20. Dupuy, Trent J.; Liu, Michael C.; Best, William M. J.; Mann, Andrew W.; Tucker, Michael A.; Zhang, Zhoujian; Baraffe, Isabelle; Chabrier, Gilles; Forveille, Thierry; Metchev, Stanimir A.; Tremblin, Pascal; Do, Aaron; Payne, Anna V.; Shappee, B. J.; Bond, Charlotte Z.; Cetre, Sylvain; Chun, Mark; Delorme, Jacques-Robert; Jovanovic, Nemanja; Lilley, Scott; Mawet, Dimitri; Ragland, Sam; Wetherell, Ed; Wizinowich, Peter (10 October 2019). "WISE J072003.20-084651.2B is a Massive T Dwarf". The Astronomical Journal. 158 (5): 174. arXiv:1908.06994. Bibcode:2019AJ....158..174D. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ab3cd1. S2CID 201103740. https://doi.org/10.3847%2F1538-3881%2Fab3cd1

  21. de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl; de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos (28 July 2022). "The Closest Past Flyby of a Known Star to the Solar System: HD 7977, UCAC4 237-008148 or WISE J072003.20-084651.2?". Research Notes of the AAS. 6 (7): 152. Bibcode:2022RNAAS...6..152D. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ac842b. https://doi.org/10.3847%2F2515-5172%2Fac842b

  22. Mamajek, Eric. "FAQ". Retrieved 2015-02-18. http://www.pas.rochester.edu/~emamajek/flyby.html

  23. Mamajek, Eric E.; Barenfeld, Scott A.; Ivanov, Valentin D. (2015). "The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System". The Astrophysical Journal. 800 (1): L17. arXiv:1502.04655. Bibcode:2015ApJ...800L..17M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/800/1/L17. S2CID 40618530. /wiki/The_Astrophysical_Journal

  24. de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl; de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos (10 May 2018). "An Independent Confirmation of the Future Flyby of Gliese 710 to the Solar System Using Gaia DR2". Research Notes of the AAS. 2 (2): 30. arXiv:1805.02644. Bibcode:2018RNAAS...2...30D. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/aac2d0. S2CID 119467738. https://doi.org/10.3847%2F2515-5172%2Faac2d0

  25. "Featured Research: Closest known flyby of star to our solar system: Dim star passed through Oort Cloud 70,000 years ago". Science Daily. 17 February 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150217114121.htm

  26. Mamajek, Eric E.; Barenfeld, Scott A.; Ivanov, Valentin D. (2015). "The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System". The Astrophysical Journal. 800 (1): L17. arXiv:1502.04655. Bibcode:2015ApJ...800L..17M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/800/1/L17. S2CID 40618530. /wiki/The_Astrophysical_Journal