"Recent Oort Cloud Visitations by Passing Stars"

Astronomers have identified stars that have passed through the Oort Cloud, affecting the orbits of cometary nuclei and outer planets. Using the SIMBAD database, researchers found potential "Nemesis" stars and close-passing stars that perturb the Oort Cloud. Close flybys by stars can send comets towards the inner Solar System. The Oort Cloud, an area of icy cometary bodies, extends up to 3.2 light-years from the Sun. Future close passages, such as that of Gliese 710, could lead to showers of comets towards the Sun, potentially impacting Earth in millions of years.