Just as the Earth moves along the gravitational plane of the Sun, so does the Sun move along the Milky Way. In its journey through the galaxy though, sometimes our Solar System attracts the wrong kind of attention: the killer meteor type of attention.

The theory goes that as the Solar System passes through the densest parts of the galaxy, its gravitational forces dislodge nearby comets. These comets come hurtling towards the Solar System, increasing the chances of meteors hitting us.

Now there's only a very small chance we'll be hit by a killer meteor before these "meteor seasons," but it's still disconcerting to find that chances of it increase during the period. In fact, scientists believe that the dinos were killed off during one of these seasons.

Evidence from craters on our planet suggest that we got massive meteor collisions 36 million years ago, the same period when the Solar System went through one of its killer seasons. Scientists believe we're going to go through another one of these seasons soon.