Jupiter and Saturn (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Jupiter and Saturn

Caption

Not long after Jupiter formed, it got pulled slowly toward the sun, carried on currents of swirling gas. Saturn also got pulled in, and when the two giant planets came close enough to each other, their fates became linked. Their sun-bound death spiral came to a halt when Jupiter was about where Mars is now; then the pair turned and moved away from the sun. The researchers who developed this model of the early solar system call it the "Grand Tack," a reference to the sailing maneuver.

Credit

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

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