Comments on: Researcher: Orbits Went Kablooey When Solar System Was a Teenager

By: shaking head

shaking head — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:28:17 +0000

@ yourang
Elementary perturbation theory indicates that, no body with an eccentric orbit would keep the same period for two consecutive passages. Within twelve orbits the object would be either ejected or converted to a short period object.

By: YouRang

YouRang — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:37:19 +0000

Shouldn’t there have been some mention of the mechanism for circularizing the orbits? I.E. I thought that the orbits were thought circular since they were bombarded at random points in their orbits. If instead their orbits were severely distorted, it would seem that the gas giants’ orbits should be a lot more elliptical than they are.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:48:45 +0000

The past is etched onto the now to be discovered in the future.