Vega. Are Sol and Vega destined to collide?

  • Thread starter twistedspark
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In summary, sources indicate that Vega is moving sideways, and is not on a collision course with our Sun.
  • #1
twistedspark
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Am I misunderstanding the measurements or what? The SIMBAD site has archived 17 measurements or Vega's radial velocity over the past 150 years and they are all negative (blue-shifted) averaging out to about 9.0875 miles per second. Since Vega is only 25.29 lightyears away this seems to indicate that Vega and our star will be right on top of one another in 518,000 years. A very short time on a planetary scale. Not even as long as mammals have been dominant on Earth.
Granted that's not an immediate concern, but if that was true I'm pretty certain I would have heard about it by now. I haven't heard anything about this anywhere. I just came to this apparent conclusion from bits and pieces I've read and watched while learning about stellar masses, types, etc.
It would also seem to me that you can't ascribe our movement towards Vega our planetary orbit of the Sun nor Vega around a companion star. Vega is solitary, and is almost perfectly aligned with our North pole and we with one of it's poles.
Also, Vega is expected to survive as a main sequence star for another 500 million years, so if it's on a collision course it will be here long before it becomes a red giant.

Sources:

http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/s...ubmit=display+selected+measurements#lab_meas"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vega"

http://www.solstation.com/stars/vega.htm"
 
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  • #2
It's proper motion is about 350 milli-arc seconds per year, which means it's moving sideways with respect to the Sun. Thus not a collision risk.
 
  • #3
even when entire galaxies collide, the chances of any stars hitting other stars is extremely close to zero.
 
  • #4
As graal points out, just because it has a component of movement towards us does not mean it's on a collision course. In order for it to be on a collision course, it would have to also have a transverse component of zero, which would be a fabulously small probability (for any set of objects that are moving toward us).
 
  • #5
OK, thanks. Where do you find the info on it's transverse motion?
I of course realize the stars wouldn't actually "collide," but having a star as massive as Vega pass too close would probably rip our solar system apart, and in the very least purterb the system enough to move the Earth out of the 'goldilocks zone.'
 

Related to Vega. Are Sol and Vega destined to collide?

1. What is Vega?

Vega is a star located in the constellation Lyra, approximately 25 light-years away from Earth. It is the fifth brightest star in the night sky and can easily be seen with the naked eye.

2. Is Vega similar to our Sun?

Vega is about twice as massive as our Sun, but it is much younger and hotter. It also rotates much faster than our Sun, causing it to have a flattened shape at the poles.

3. How long will it take for Sol and Vega to collide?

There is no evidence to suggest that Sol and Vega will collide. While it is possible for stars to collide in the universe, the vast distances between them make it highly unlikely.

4. Are Sol and Vega moving towards each other?

No, Sol and Vega are not moving towards each other. They are both traveling through the Milky Way at different speeds and in different directions.

5. Will the collision of Sol and Vega affect Earth?

Even if Sol and Vega were on a collision course, the chances of it directly affecting Earth are very slim. The distance between our planet and these stars is so great that any potential impact would not be significant.

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