Surprise, Alpha du Centaure expels millions of asteroids to the solar system!
Illustration of asteroids from the alpha system of Centaur. © generated on Grok by Brice Haziza
It is a study Smart and really surprising statistics. Two Canadian researchers from Western Ontario University wondered if the solar system was visited by extraterrestrial equipment (asteroids, comets, etc.). We had two recent examples with it with 1L/'Oumaumua in 2017 and 2L/Borisov in 2020.
Now it turns out that we get closer to our neighbors, the alpha system of Centaur AB and Proxima of the Centaur, well known to science fiction fans and 3 -body problemat the speed of about 20 km/s. Considering these clean movements, it is likely that material ejected by interactions between planets or comets is sent in our direction. The question is how much and what size?
The Double Alpha Centauri AB system at the top; The Red Dwarf Proxima Centauri at the bottom. © ESO
More than a million asteroids from centuries alpha in the solar system
The first question to ask is if such a system ejects equipment. Indeed, it is a masting system, an age comparable to ours-perhaps slightly older-, therefore quite stable. The majority of its dust disc probably dissipated, but the mass preserved in asteroid belts and/or clouds, such as Oortconstitutes a reservoir of comets.
Illustration of the external asteroid belt (Kuiper's Belt) and the Oort cloud in the solar system. © ESA
The computer simulations of the authors of the study, which extend over 100 million years, show that around 1 million materials over 100 m in diameter had to go to us and penetrate our oort cloud. This number will increase as we get closer to the Centauri in the next 28,000 years, to increase to around 10 million!
But the Oort cloud is far away, very far (between 20,000 and 30,000 astronomical units). It starts well after the Kuiper belt, itself located beyond the orbit of Neptune. It could therefore be interesting to determine the fraction of these asteroids (or comets) which are still close to the sun. Researchers estimate that only 0.03 % of them can enter up to less than 10 astronomical units, or 1 and a half billion kilometers. It is not huge, but this number of around 30,000 objects remains significant.
In the southern hemisphere, you may be able to see a shooting star
Cole R. Gregg and Paul A. Wiegert also estimate that less than 10 meteors of a micrometric size can penetrate our atmosphere each year. When you make a wish by observing a shooting star, there is therefore a non -zero chance to observe an extrasolar light drag! These chances are increasing if you are in the southern hemisphere and you see your shooting star on the side of the Constellation of Centaur, of course.
