Our Solar System May Have Once Harbored Super-Earths (IMAGE)

California Institute of Technology

Our Solar System May Have Once Harbored Super-Earths

Caption

This snapshot from a new simulation by Caltech and UC Santa Cruz researchers depicts a time early in the solar system's history when Jupiter likely made a grand inward migration (here, Jupiter's orbit is represented by the thick white circle at about 2.5 AU). As it moved inward, Jupiter picked up primitive planetary building blocks, or planetesimals, and drove them into eccentric orbits (turquoise) that overlapped the unperturbed part of the planetary disk (yellow), setting off a cascade of collisions that would have ushered any interior planets into the sun.

Credit

K. Batygin/Caltech

Usage Restrictions

None

License

Licensed content

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.