How Passing Stars Altered Earth's Climate and Orbit Over Millions of Years
New research suggests that encounters between the sun and other stars have influenced Earth's orbit and climate over the eons, causing major climate events in the planet's history. These encounters have led to perturbations in the orbits of the solar system's giant planets, which in turn affect Earth's trajectory around the sun. The study reveals that these stellar encounters have made predictions of Earth's past orbital evolution highly uncertain, challenging previous models and suggesting a broader spectrum of orbital behavior than previously thought.