A new paper calculated a solar storm could bring down the planet's satellite system in just three days, wreaking havoc on infrastructure.

Scientists warn that Earth may have only a narrow window of less than three days to avert a cascading satellite disaster if a powerful solar storm disrupts spacecraft operations in low Earth orbit. A single significant collision could trigger a chain reaction of debris,

"During the early solar system's game of cosmic billiards, Earth was struck by a neighbor,” said Dauphas. “It was a lucky shot. Without the moon's steadying influence on our planet's tilt, the climate would have been far too chaotic for complex life to ever flourish."

Rocky planets like our Earth may be far more common than previously thought, according to new research published in the journal Science Advances. It suggests that when our solar system formed, a nearby supernova (the massive explosion of a star near the end of its life) bathed it in cosmic rays containing the radioactive ingredients to make rocky,

Illustration comparing the planets of the Solar System and the Sun on the same scale. The planets are shown to scale relative to each other but their distances are not. From left to right the bodies are: the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter ...