Expert: Jayendra Upadhye - 9/18/2004

Question
Is it urban legend or a fact that a star closer than alpha Centauri exists?  According to Internet chatter it is a red star.  

Answer
Hello Dr.Huff,
I hope you are not talking about PROXIMA Centauri, which is red and happens to be closer to us than alpha centauri!
There was some talk of a death star a cousin of the son, that is supposed to have an orbital period of 26 million years! Thtis was to explain periodic extinctions and some planetary anomalies like the sateroid belt, saturn's rings and the extreme tilt of the axis of uranus. The star was even given a name ..Nemesis i think.
here is a nice link on the theory. Nemesis is also a red dwarf, but undetected as yet.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/nemesis_010320-1.html
It is supposed to cause perturbations in the oort's cloud and send comet showers careening inwards into the solar system.
Let me know if you have any more queries.
But the site is quite comprehensive.
jayen