Unlike the Solar System planets, thousands of smaller bodies beyond Neptune orbit the Sun on eccentric (e > 0.1 and i > 3°) orbits. While migration of the giant planets during the early stages of Solar System evolution could have induced substantial scattering of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), this process cannot account for the small number of distant TNOs (r_p > 60 au) outside the planets’ reach. The alternative scenario of the close flyby of another star can instead produce all these TNO features simultaneously, but the possible parameter space for such an encounter is vast. Here we compare observed TNO properties with thousands of flyby simulations to determine the specific properties of a flyby that reproduces all the different dynamical TNO populations, their locations and their relative abundances, and find that a \(0.{8}_{-0.1}^{+0.1}\,{M}_{\odot }\) star passing at a distance of r_p = 110 ± 10 au, inclined by i = 70°\({\,}_{-10}^{+5}\), gives a near-perfect match. This flyby also replicates the retrograde TNO population, which has proved difficult to explain. Such a flyby is reasonably frequent; at least 140 million solar-type stars in the Milky Way are likely to have experienced a similar one. In light of these results, we predict that the upcoming Vera Rubin telescope will reveal that distant and retrograde TNOs are relatively common.

与太阳系行星不同，海王星以外的数千个较小天体在偏心（ e > 0.1 和i > 3°）轨道上绕太阳运行。虽然太阳系演化早期巨行星的迁移可能引起海王星外天体 (TNO) 的大量散射，但这一过程无法解释行星外少量遥远的 TNO ( r _p > 60 au) ' 抵达。另一种情况是另一颗恒星近距离飞越，可以同时产生所有这些 TNO 特征，但这种遭遇的可能参数空间是巨大的。在这里，我们将观察到的 TNO 属性与数千次飞越模拟进行比较，以确定重现所有不同动态 TNO 种群、它们的位置和相对丰度的飞越的具体属性，并发现\(0.{8}_{-0.1 }^{+0.1}\,{M}_{\odot }\)恒星经过距离r _p = 110 ± 10 au，倾斜i = 70° \({\,}_{-10}^ {+5}\) ，给出了近乎完美的匹配。这次飞越也复制了逆行的 TNO 种群，这已被证明很难解释。这种飞越相当频繁；银河系中至少有1.4亿颗太阳型恒星可能经历过类似的经历。根据这些结果，我们预测即将推出的维拉鲁宾望远镜将揭示遥远的逆行海天组织是相对常见的。