What would happen if the Earth was pulled out of orbit by a passing Galaxy?
A galaxy is an incredibly huge thing. It may be a hundred thousand light years across, and may contain several hundred billion solar systems like ours.
It would also take a course of several billion years for it to pass, during which, chances are, no actual star from the passing galaxy would ever come much closer to the solar system than Proxima Centauri is now.
Because, you see, a galaxy, giant as it is, is mostly empty space; the stars, even entire solar systems, are incredible small compared to the vast distances between them.
In other words, a passing galaxy will likely leave the Earth’s orbit completely undisturbed, with no lasting effects whatsoever.
A passing star on the other hand if, say, another star flew through our Solar System, it could wreak havoc with planetary orbits.
And depending on how much it perturbs the Earth’s orbit, the Earth might become entirely uninhabitable.
In the extreme case, if the Earth were to be thrown out of the solar system altogether, its surface would become arctic in days or weeks (depending on how fast it is receding fro the Sun); and within months, maybe a few years, the oceans would freeze solid.
By then, most life would have died out, except perhaps for some microbial life near underwater thermal vents.
And if the passing star passes too close (or if it is much brighter than the Sun) it could completely fry the Earth by the time it is through, leaving behind only a lifeless, scorched surface.
However, in this case chances are that most marine life would survive, and perhaps even well-prepared humans might survive in shelters, to reclaim the surface afterwards.
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