(Dan Tri) - What interactions between planets in the system or interstellar forces have caused the planets to have their current positions?
There has been much scientific debate about the orbits of the planets around the Sun. The characteristics of the planets' current orbits are well understood, but how they have evolved and changed since the formation of the Solar System remains a mystery.
Over the past few decades, scientists have begun to suggest that interactions between planets have caused "young" planets to move inward or outward from their original positions.
Now, a new theory proposes that an object more massive than Jupiter passed through the Solar System and was responsible for the order of the planets.
The evolution of planetary orbits is complex. Initially, planets formed from a disk of gas and dust orbiting the young, extremely hot Sun. Conservation of angular momentum caused that material to form a plane, resulting in circular, coplanar orbits.
As planets grow, interactions within the initial disk of material—the protoplanets themselves—cause their orbits to become smaller or larger than their original orbits.
In addition, gravitational interactions also cause significant changes in eccentricity and tilt, and sometimes even cause the disks of protoplanetary material to be ejected from the Solar System. Tidal forces from the Sun can also affect the orbits of these planets.
Although the explosions that created protoplanets occurred quite frequently during the formation of the Solar System, there were also distant visits from celestial bodies. These visits were rare but provided valuable information about distant planetary systems.
The asteroid Oumuamua, discovered in 2017, is the first confirmed “visitor.” It has an elongated shape and unusual acceleration, possibly due to outgassing or other non-gravitational forces.
A new theory proposed by scientists at Garett Brown University, Canada, suggests that such interstellar visitors could have flown by and caused changes in the orbits of planets in the Solar System.
The team studied the eccentricities of the gas giants, and found that current theories were unlikely to account for the observations. And they demonstrated that an object between 2 and 50 times the mass of Jupiter passed through the Solar System and was responsible for the orbital order in the System.
The team asserts that an object passing at a perihelion (closest distance from the Sun) less than 20 astronomical units at an infinitesimal speed of less than 6 km/s, could have had an impact on the orbital order we observe.
According to them, there is a 1 in 100 chance that an interstellar visitor could have created the orbit we see today. This is much more likely than previous theories suggested.
Using simulations and approximate values of the characteristics of the guest bodies as above, the team concluded that this theory is the most suitable to explain the order of the planets in the Solar System today.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/khoa-hoc-cong-nghe/cai-gi-da-quyet-dinh-trat-tu-quy-dao-cua-cac-hanh-tinh-trong-he-mat-troi-20241213012045937.htm
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