---
title: "Closest known flyby of star to our solar system"
description: "Astronomers have determined that 70,000 years ago a recently discovered dim star is likely to have passed the Oort Cloud. No other star is known to have ever approached our solar system this close."
date: "2015-02-17"
modified: "2015-08-13"
authors:
  - name: "Amber Raynolds"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/amber24.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/closest-known-flyby-of-star-to-our-solar-system"
categories:
  - "Energy"
  - "Off-World"
  - "Renewable Energy"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "Solar Power"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "space"
---

# Closest known flyby of star to our solar system

![Default Futurism featured image](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Futurism-Filler-Image.jpg>)

- The star's trajectory suggests that 70,000 years ago it passed roughly 52,000 astronomical units away (or about 0.8 light years, which equals 8 trillion kilometers, or 5 trillion miles). This is astronomically close; our closest neighbor star Proxima Centauri is 4.2 light years distant.
- Scholz's star had an unusual mix of characteristics: despite being fairly close ("only" 20 light years away), it showed very slow tangential motion, that is, motion across the sky.
- While the close flyby of Scholz's star likely had little impact on the Oort Cloud, Mamajek points out that "other dynamically important Oort Cloud perturbers may be lurking among nearby stars."

## More

- [Did a DIm Star 0.8 Light-Years Away Disrupt The Oort Cloud 70,000 Years Ago?](<https://futurism.com/did-a-dim-star-0-8-light-years-away-disrupt-the-oort-cloud-70000-years-ago.md>)
- [These Graphics Convey The Size & Scale of Our Solar System](<https://futurism.com/5-graphs-that-show-the-awesomeness-of-our-solar-system.md>)
- [The Oort Cloud: How Big Is Our Solar System?](<https://futurism.com/the-oort-cloud-home-of-the-icy-giants.md>)
- [Scientists Spot Spiral Structure at Edge of Solar System](<https://futurism.com/spiral-structure-edge-solar-system.md>)
- [Bad News! A Rogue Star Will Not Crash Into Us, Scientists Say](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/rogue-star-will-not-crash.md>)
- [Astronomers Discover Closest Alien Planet in Its Star’s Habitable Zone](<https://futurism.com/19755.md>)
- [Hubble Discovers Closest Earth-Sized World to Our Star System](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hubble-closest-earth-sized-world.md>)
- [An Alien in Our Solar System: Planet 9 Might Have Once Belonged to Another Star](<https://futurism.com/an-alien-in-our-solar-system-planet-9-might-have-once-belonged-to-another-star.md>)