Many of us spend our days thinking about what’s going to happen next. For instance, our current pandemic. When will life return to normal? When will we have a vaccine? What will happen if I get it? Etc. But I’m guessing you’ve never thought about something exterrestrial entering our solar system. Most things that enter our solar system are asteroids and comets and other space debris, but what about a planet? Now obviously we wouldn’t necessarily collide with another galaxy but here’s what would happen if a rogue planet entered our solar system.

First, what is a rogue planet? Planets are held in orbit to their host star. Those planets who have been booted out of their original orbit or its place of origin has no host star. These planets roam around space with no set path; however, if one entered our solar system here’s what would happen. 

Although the chances of a rogue planet entering our solar system and hitting Earth are low, if we were unfortunate enough, the planet would collide with Earth ending life as we know it. If it simply just entered our solar system, it would have an immense effect on us. While the planet wouldn’t totally push us out of the habitable zone, it would push us closer to the sun which would make for extremely hot and short summers and extremely cold and long winters. This would lead to a short time for crops to grow which would lead to a food shortage, and by the end of the first year, we could be extinct. It might even throw Earth into another ice age, and instead of global warming, we would be worried about global cooling. If the planet totally pushed us out of the habitable zone, the only way we could survive would be if we could learn to live at the bottom of the ocean next to deep sea vents that push out extremely hot water, but most of our water would be frozen because of spaces frigid temperature according to Insh.world.com.

Now because rogue planets roam, scientists are not able to have any actual theories or hypotheses about any of the planets. According to Nasa.gov, NASA has unveiled the Roman telescope which will help scientists study and learn about the rogue planets. Scientists have found a rogue planet 20 light years outside of our solar system. For reference, a light year is about 27.980779 miles. The only thing scientists know about this planet is that it’s 17,000 times the size of Earth, has a powerful magnetic field which causes magnificent auroras, and it’s about 13 times bigger than Jupiter according to Insh.world.com. 

Luckily for us, the universe is enormous so the chances of the planet entering our solar system is very low. I think if a rogue planet were to enter our solar system, it would be long after humans no longer exist. Most things that enter our solar system are asteroids and comets that either pass us or burn up in the atmosphere. Now while a planet is much larger than either of those, many will pass us.