So I snort in the general direction of your "empty space".

Not to sound all mystical, but gravity binds all things. In cosmic billiards, the stars are pockets, and we live next to a cosmic sinkhole.

Close only counts in horseshoes and cosmic billiards. You don't have to hit things in cosmic billiards to move them. How close would a mass 10 superjovian have to pass to Earth to perturb its orbit enough to tip the balance of climate change? Or swing it too far the other way into a permanent ice age? Forget getting flung into the cold interstellar night, even a tiny tweak to its orbit could render our planet uninhabitable.

I'll give you credit for giving gravity a small pat on the head when you invoked the image of a hailstorm of comets. That's not nothing. That's a dinosaur killer waiting to happen. A superjovian passing through the solar system would break the table like god's own cue ball.

Never thought I'd read myself saying this, but perhaps bowser's right to be paranoid.