• Question: whats the probability of the sun hitting our planet

    Asked by oscarleaver160607 on 21 Jan 2020.
    • Photo: Daniel Bearup

      Daniel Bearup answered on 21 Jan 2020: last edited 21 Jan 2020 10:55 am

      The Earth is in a stable orbit around the Sun. So the only way that the Earth could hit the Sun is if a very heavy object (like a black hole) passed through the Solar System and changed the orbits of the planets. As far as we know there aren’t very many heavy objects moving around relative to the Solar System, so we’d estimate this probability as very low. For a more precise answer, we’d have to estimate the probability of detecting heavy objects with our telescopes … .

      When the Sun nears the end of its life (millions of years from now) it will expand, at which point the edges of the Sun might stretch out to Earth’s orbit. You could describe that as the Sun hitting the Earth … .

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