Colliding Solar systems?

Question

What would happen if another solar system crossed paths with our solar system?

Answer 1

Orbits would be disturbed, but chances are very small for any actual collisions of planets, considering the distances involved - which also pretty much rules out that happening in the first place.

Even when galaxies collide, the stars in the galaxies don't. It's like you are a star in Boston, and your friend is a star in NYC, and you're trying to find each other by running in the general direction of the other person, screaming and waving your arms. It's not going to happen.

Answer 2

A "collision" in astronomy is any encounter where there is an exchange of energy between the two objects.

The concepts of other stars (with or without stellar systems) coming close enough to our system is sometimes used to explain a rise int he number of comets and asteroids that hit us (and the Moon), and may lead to extinctions.

To use the analogy of one friend in Boston and one friend in NY: what we have is thousands of people from Mass. and thousands of people from (let us say) Connecticut running at random and shouting -- and hearing a shout from another is enough to change your life.

There may be no physical contact, but the "collision" could still leave its mark.

Answer 3

It's going to happen -- the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies are on a collision course, which may be very bad news indeed for living creatures located anywhere in these galaxies. The good news is that it won't happen for billions of years, and our Sun may burn out first. Ah well!

Answer 4

some of the planets would be disturbed from their orbits. there would be a deluge of comets from the oort cloud and the kuiper belt. odds are that no two planets would actually collide nor is it likely that the two stars would collide. they might go into orbit around each other or just send each other flying away.

in all truth we cannot know what would happen until we actually see it.