If astronomers ever see a “wiggle” in the orbit of Mars, it might be the fault of a passing black hole. A study last year suggested that tiny black holes might pass through the inner solar system once every decade or so. They’re not likely to run into Earth or anything else. But their gravity might give the inner planets a minuscule nudge. And if Mars is the one getting shoved, we might be able to measure it.

The universe might be filled with “primordial” black holes created in the Big Bang. They’d be as tiny as atoms, but as massive as asteroids hundreds of miles wide.

Such black holes might account for much of the “dark matter” in the universe. It makes up about 85 percent of all matter, but it produces no energy, so we can’t see it. We know it’s there only because its gravity pulls on the visible matter around it. Scientists have suggested it might consist of subatomic particles, but efforts to find them have come up empty.

If primordial black holes make up the difference, they would zip through the solar system fairly often.

The study found that it would be hard to measure the effect of such a black hole on Earth or the Moon. But if one passed within a few hundred million miles of Mars, its gravity could change the planet’s orbit by a tiny amount. Over a few years, the change would add up, allowing astronomers to measure it. So if the orbit of Mars gives a little wiggle, it just might be caused by a passing black hole.

Script by Damond Benningfield