What if we put a pulsar at the edge of our solar system? - Universe Sandbox #spacesimulation

Ajouté : 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]Put a pulsar at the edge of our solar system. All right, let's drop a pulsar at the helopause, 100 astronomical units from the sun. A pulsar is a dead star only 20 km wide, but 1.4 times the mass of the sun. A young pulsar can spin 30 times per second, blasting radiation from its poles. As it spins, the beams swing around like a lighthouse. At Earth's distance, the pulsar's gravity is only 0.014% of the sun's. So, Earth keeps its orbit at first and stays in the habitable zone, but the outer planets feel it the most. Neptune gets up to 25% of the sun's pull from this pulsar, enough to bend its orbit. The sun and the pulsar start orbiting each other around a shared center of mass. Earth's orbit survives, but the radiation is what threatens life. If the pulsar's beams miss Earth, there's no instant radiation apocalypse. But if Earth is in their path, we get hit with X-rays and gamma rays 30 times per second. The ozone layer could start breaking down within days, and lethal ultraviolet radiation would flood the surface. Earth stays in the habitable zone, but whether life survives depends on which way the pulsar's beams are pointing.