GJ 710’s rare close approach highlights stellar encounters near the Sun

Star system: Gliese 710 | Distance from the Sun: 62.2 light years

This study examines how often stars pass close to the Sun and puts the upcoming fly-by of GJ 710 into context. GJ 710 is expected to come within about 0.0621 parsecs (roughly 10,000 astronomical units) of the Solar System in about 1.3 million years, making it one of the closest known future encounters. The researchers analyzed the motions of nearby stars to identify both past and future close approaches within one parsec of the Sun. They corrected the data for effects like gravitational redshift and convective blueshift, which can affect velocity measurements and encounter predictions.

By studying all stars within 25 parsecs of the Sun, the team calculated how often such close encounters happen. They found that, on average, each star experiences a close encounter within one parsec every 95,000 years. However, an approach as close as GJ 710’s is much rarer, occurring only about once every 50 million years. The study also accounted for binary stars and pairs moving together, and corrected for incomplete data at the edges of the time window. These results provide a clearer picture of the dynamic environment around the Sun and help us understand the frequency and impact of stellar fly-bys.

Key findings
- GJ 710 will pass within 0.0621 parsecs of the Sun in 1.3 million years.
- Close stellar encounters within one parsec happen every 95,000 years on average.
- Extremely close fly-bys like GJ 710’s occur only once every 50 million years.
- Corrections for velocity biases and binary systems improve encounter statistics.
- The study enhances our understanding of the solar neighborhood’s dynamic history.

Scientific study

Stellar encounters in the solar neighbourhood and the special case of GJ~710 (external link)