WYLIE AND BALMER THOUGHT OF THIS NEARLY A CENTURY AGO: This Is Not the Way We Usually Imagine the World Will End: Stars passing close to the sun could cause planets to collide, including with Earth, or even be ejected as rogue planets, new simulations show. “The researchers found that 0.5 percent of their simulations resulted in planets colliding or a planet being ejected from the solar system. And the world most likely to be affected in such a cataclysm? “Mercury is the most vulnerable planet by far,” Dr. Raymond said.”