How likely is the flotsam of a space battle to be captured by our sun's gravity well?

A light-year distant from Sol saw the collision of a massive space-born battle fleet against an awe-inspiring dreadnought. At one point in the battle, the flotilla fired rail-guns with 100 metric ton slugs and nuclear missiles.

...And a lot of them missed their target

...And kept on sailing through space, generally toward our beloved Sol.

Eons later, while eating an Italian custard at a French bistro whilst admiring the visas in my American passport, I look up to see an odd reflection in the early afternoon sun. Hours later, Earth becomes collateral damage in a battle fought long before Gelato ice cream was invented.

• Ignore the scattering effect of objects sailing through space. Assume that the rail-gun slugs and missiles (their fuel long since exhausted) are lined up to pass through our system, parallel with the ecliptic, 15 degrees above the ecliptic referenced from the sun, and 2 AU from the sun.

• Assume the missiles are similar in size and mass to a Minuteman-III missile.

• Rail-gun slug: 100 metric tons, muzzle velocity of 2.5 Km/s.

Question: Is it possible for these munitions to become captured in our sun's gravity well, thereby making them a believable catastrophe-in-the-making?

posted almost 6 years ago

JBH‭

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