Study suggests interstellar object may have altered orbits of outer planets

A new study suggests a massive interstellar object, eight times the mass of Jupiter, may have altered the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune billions of years ago. This object likely passed close to the Sun, near Mars' orbit. Researchers conducted 50,000 computer simulations to explore how such an object's flyby could affect planetary orbits. They found that in about 1% of cases, the object's influence matched current observations of the planets' paths. The study indicates that substellar objects are common, making similar flybys likely. While the findings are not yet peer-reviewed, they offer a potential explanation for the irregularities in the outer planets' orbits.