Something called “Scholz’s star” apparently passed through the Oort Cloud some 70,000 years ago, presumably kicking up a bunch of fuss among potential comets (which take a long time to make it to our neighborhood). Don’t know if this one was part of that encounter, or whether it’s associated with something that happened even farther back.
“Something called “Scholz’s star” apparently passed through the Oort Cloud some 70,000 years ago”
Thanks. Probably something like that or a similar event much longer ago.
The Oort cloud is so far away that something stirred up might take a long time to make its way into the solar system.
From Scholtz’s Star (wikipedia): “Ninety-eight percent of mathematical simulations of the star system’s trajectory indicated that it [Scholtz Star] passed through the Solar System’s Oort cloud, or within 120,000 AU (0.58 pc; 1.9 ly) of the Sun.
Comets perturbed from the Oort cloud would require roughly two million years to get to the inner Solar System.”