MT Solar cars

[Maletrain]

Maletrain:  The official name for an interstellar planet, if one came through the Solar System, would be #I/(name), where the # is the discovery number.  So far we have two:  1I/'Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov.

Odds are that something the size of Neptune probably wouldn't do too much damage.  The Solar System is a big place, and it's likely to come in at a fairly high angle to the planets' orbits.  Unless we got very unlucky, and it made a close pass by one of the inner planets, it probably wouldn't change much.

I think that neither 1I/'Oumuamua nor 2I/Borisov meet the definition of "planet" since they are both far smaller than many asteroids, and at least 1I/'Oumuamua is far from spherical (can't see shape of 2I/Borisov), etc. 

But, that should not prevent MTL from making a "Visitors from Beyond the Solar System" car. 

As for what a real, large exoplanet would do if one ever sails through our solar system, it is true that the risk is quite low.  The probability of it happening at all is low, and the probability of it disrupting the orbits of the existing planets is also low if it ever happens.  But, it would not need to come close to the inner planets to have profound effects on the life here on earth.  Because the orbits of the planets now in our solar system have settled into a stable resonance for their effects on each other, it would not take too much of a nudge to Jupiter or Saturn to disrupt that stability enough to alter Earth's orbit just a bit.  Considering that the Earth already has major climate swings (ice ages with short warm periods between - now probably already perturbed by effects of its human population) it is not hard to see where just a little change in earth's orbital parameters could have profound effects on humans. 

[nkalanaga]

"I think that neither 1I/'Oumuamua nor 2I/Borisov meet the definition of "planet" since they are both far smaller than many asteroids, and at least 1I/'Oumuamua is far from spherical (can't see shape of 2I/Borisov), etc.  "

Very true, and they aren't planets.  But an interstellar planet, discovered entering our Solar System, would be named in the same format, since we wouldn't (at first) know just what it was.

Also, since it wouldn't be "orbiting a star", the IAU wouldn't consider it a planet, no matter how big, or round, it was.  Shows the limitations of letting a handful of "experts" define terms, commonly used in everyday language, centuries after they're received common meanings.

I still like the theory, unlikely as it is, that 1I/'Oumuamua is a derelict alien starship.

[mu26aeh]

All this talk of the solar system, all I can hear is Jack Horkheimer saying " Keep looking up"

[Mark5]

All this talk of the solar system, all I can hear is Jack Horkheimer saying " Keep looking up"

Hehe, used to enjoy that show.

[Maletrain]

...
I still like the theory, unlikely as it is, that 1I/'Oumuamua is a derelict alien starship.

Makes me think of Voyagers 1 & 2, now only about 0.002 light year from earth and moving at only 0.00005 of the speed of light.  It will take something like another 85,000 years for them to get as far as the nearest star (which they aren't aimed at).  I wonder what they, and we, and even the Earth will be like by then.

And, of course the stars are moving, too.   The closest encounter to the Sun predicted so far  is for a low-mass orange dwarf star roughly 60% the mass of the Sun, currently predicted to pass 0.3 light-years from the Sun in 1,300,000 years from the present.  That is close enough to significantly disturb our Solar System's Oort cloud and send who-knows-what sailing into the inner solar system.

[Point353]

The closest encounter to the Sun predicted so far  is for a low-mass orange dwarf star roughly 60% the mass of the Sun, currently predicted to pass 0.3 light-years from the Sun in 1,300,000 years from the present.  That is close enough to significantly disturb our Solar System's Oort cloud and send who-knows-what sailing into the inner solar system.

I would fly my Learjet up to Nova Scotia to see that.

[reinhardtjh]

I would fly my Learjet up to Nova Scotia to see that.

Oh, you're so vain.

[Jbub]

Oh, someone say Lear Jet? How quaint, let's meet up and I'll show you my G650ER and we can fly anywhere you'd like. I should have enough money to buy one in 1.3 million years.

[Maletrain]

Oh, someone say Lear Jet? How quaint, let's meet up and I'll show you my G650ER and we can fly anywhere you'd like. I should have enough money to buy one in 1.3 million years.

By 1.3 million years, even the G650ER will be "quaint" if it can be found in a museum at all.  Maybe we will be able to just "beam over" to Nova Scotia by then, "if man is still alive." 

[nkalanaga]

"if man is still alive." For those who aren't old enough to remember it, look up the song "2525".

[MK]

Oh, someone say Lear Jet? How quaint, let's meet up and I'll show you my G650ER and we can fly anywhere you'd like. I should have enough money to buy one in 1.3 million years.

I'll borrow a Falcon 8X and meet you there.

[Steveruger45]

MT are coming out with a Solar Loco too. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Don’t see a Pluto.

[Point353]

Don’t see a Pluto.

Wait for the N Scale Enthusiast group to release it as a special run item.

[peteski]

Wait for the N Scale Enthusiast group to release it as a special run item.

Ah, the "Almost Planets" series.
Just like they did with the Almost State Series cars. 

[x600]

Pluto gonna be the caboose? 

Greg O