There's a good chance passing or rogue stars could come as close as three light years to Earth, argues the author of a scientific paper accepted for publication in the journal, Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Coryn Bailer-Jones, an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany and the paper's lone author, claims 14 stars could approach to within three light years of Earth between 240,000 and 470,000 years from now.

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The star that could come closest to us could be HIP 85605 that's now some 16 light years away in the constellation Hercules.

Bailer-Jones also said a local orange dwarf star has a 90 percent probability of passing within the orbit of the outer solar system's Oort Cloud.

He estimates some 40 stars came or will come within an estimated 6.4 light years of the Sun over 20 million years in Earth's past to 20 million years in the future.

"This study is limited to stars for which we have accurate distances and velocities; which, in turn, limits us to stars currently within a few tens of [light years] from the Sun," said Bailer-Jones to Forbes.

The close encounter might be a potential threat to objects in the Oort Cloud because of its gravitational influence. Bailer-Jones study on the idea of stellar encounter can be described as comprehensive along with other studies such as those by Floor van Leeuwen of the Cambridge Institute of Astronomy.

TagsPassing Stars, comets, solar system, Hip 85605, Oort Cloud, Galactic Tide, ESA, Gaia spacecraft