As many as 70,000 years ago, dim star passed through the Oort Cloud. An international group of astronomers from the US, Europe, Chile and South Africa announced the discovery and affirmed that by far, no other star has ever passed by our solar system at such a distance.

Study’s lead researcher Eric Mamajek from the University of Rochester and his other team members measured and assessed the velocity and trajectory of Scholz's star. The star’s trajectory suggests that 70,000 years ago, the star passed roughly 52,000 astronomical units away.

In the paper published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, the researchers explained that they are 98% sure that the star has gone through ‘outer Oort Cloud’. The star first caught the attention of Mamajek during a discussion with co-author Valentin D. Ivanov, from the European Southern Observatory.

The star exhibited unusual mix of characteristics. When the radical velocity was measured by Ivanov, it was found that the star was moving almost directly away from the solar system at a great speed. It is considered that the close flyby of Scholz's star most probably had an impact on Oort Cloud.

Formally, the star is known as WISE J072003.20-084651.2, but nicknamed as Scholz's star to honor its discoverer, astronomer Ralf-Dieter Scholz of the Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP) in Germany. He was the first one to report its discovery in late 2013.