Stars in the Milky Way’s centre often get dangerously close together

By Jonathan O’Callaghan

ESO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/M. Kornmesser/R. Hurt

When a star passes another star, any planets orbiting them can be flung into space, destroying what could once have been hospitable solar systems. And while rare in the outer parts of our galaxy, such events might be common in the inner regions of the Milky Way.

That’s according to researchers who have found that about 80 per cent of stars in our galaxy’s central bulge pass close by another every billion years, getting within 1000 astronomical units – 1 AU is the distance …