New research reveals how a close encounter with another star reshaped the orbits of long-period comets—and may still influence their paths today. The discovery rewrites our understanding of how cosmic neighbors impact Earth's celestial backyard.

A star passed within 0.5 light-years of the Sun—20 times closer than our current nearest neighbor

Its gravity perturbed 1 in 10 Oort cloud objects, increasing comet production by 300%

Some long-period comets today may still follow altered paths from this event

The next close stellar encounter (Gliese 710) arrives in 1.3 million years

Scholz's Star altered orbits in the Oort cloud—a region stretching 100,000 AU from the Sun—with effects still measurable today.

A Passing Star Warped Our Solar System 3 Million Years Ago—And We Still Feel It Today