Rendez-vous with massive interstellar objects, as triggers of destabilisation

Abstract

We study how close passages of interstellar objects of planetary and substellar masses may affect the immediate and long-term dynamics of the Solar system. We consider two nominal approach orbits, namely, the orbits of actual interstellar objects 1I/’Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, assuming them to be typical or representative for interstellar swarms of matter. Thus, the nominal orbits of the interloper in our models cross the inner part of the Solar system. Series of massive numerical experiments are performed, in which the interloper’s mass is varied with a small step over a broad range. We find that, even if a Jovian-mass interloper does not experience close encounters with the Solar system planets (and this holds for our nominal orbits), our planetary system can be destabilised on timescales as short as several million years. In what concerns substellar-mass interlopers (free-floating brown dwarfs), an immediate (on a timescale of ∼10–100 yr) consequence of such a MISO flyby is a sharp increase in the orbital eccentricities and inclinations of the outer planets. On an intermediate timescale (∼103–105 yr after the MISO flyby), Uranus or Neptune can be ejected from the system, as a result of their mutual close encounters and encounters with Saturn. On a secular timescale (∼106–107 yr after the MISO flyby), the perturbation wave formed by secular planetary interactions propagates from the outer Solar system to its inner zone.