<p>Apolcalyse.</p>
<p>A 10 solar mass black hole passing through the solar system would completely disrupt it. The orbits of all the planets would be completely disturbed. Any particular planet could be hurled onto a elliptical orbit to be periodically scorched by the sun, then frozen, or it could be ejected from the solar system completely. In any case, in a fairly short amount of time, all life on Earth would come to an end.</p>
<p>Fortunately such an event is rare.  Interactions with other stars happen rarely enough that you would expect there to be less than one such interaction with a star in th life of the universe, and black holes are much rarer than stars.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-27T12:54:00.850Z
What if it passed very fast? Could it be traveling that fast that we wont even notice?
Deschele Schilder
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-26T19:02:51.183Z
2021-06-26T19:02:51.183Z
James K
<p>I asked already a similar question about the Earth orbiting a black hole but it was closed. So I ask a new one. What if the solar system passes a black hole? Say it has a mass of ten suns and the hole gets close to Earth but it will not enter the black holes horizon. The encounter is too short for that.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-26T17:12:04.343Z
Why does it have to be a black hole? The passage of any ten solar mass object into the solar system would totally disrupt it.
ProfRob
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-26T17:56:34.560Z
Having said that, it is actually more likely (though still very unlikely) for the Solar System to encounter a ten solar mass black hole than a ten solar mass star, because there are probably more of them.
ProfRob
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-26T18:56:52.657Z
@ProfRob The reason I think of a black hole is because it is only space(time). There will be no particles except Hawking photons. The only thing changing would be the spacetime surrounding the solar syste.
Deschele Schilder
<black-hole>
What would happen if a medium -sized black hole passed the Earth?
Deschele Schilder
# What would happen if a medium -sized black hole passed the Earth?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-06-26)

I asked already a similar question about the Earth orbiting a black hole but it was closed. So I ask a new one. What if the solar system passes a black hole? Say it has a mass of ten suns and the hole gets close to Earth but it will not enter the black holes horizon. The encounter is too short for that.

**Tags:** black-hole
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Why does it have to be a black hole? The passage of any ten solar mass object into the solar system would totally disrupt it.  
> **username_1**: Having said that, it is actually more likely (though still very unlikely) for the Solar System to encounter a ten solar mass black hole than a ten solar mass star, because there are probably more of them.  
> **username_0**: @ProfRob The reason I think of a black hole is because it is only space(time). There will be no particles except Hawking photons. The only thing changing would be the spacetime surrounding the solar syste.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-06-26. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Apolcalyse.

A 10 solar mass black hole passing through the solar system would completely disrupt it. The orbits of all the planets would be completely disturbed. Any particular planet could be hurled onto a elliptical orbit to be periodically scorched by the sun, then frozen, or it could be ejected from the solar system completely. In any case, in a fairly short amount of time, all life on Earth would come to an end.

Fortunately such an event is rare. Interactions with other stars happen rarely enough that you would expect there to be less than one such interaction with a star in th life of the universe, and black holes are much rarer than stars.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: What if it passed very fast? Could it be traveling that fast that we wont even notice?  

---

