Abha Jain is a freelance science writer. She did a masters degree in biology, specializing in neuroscience, from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India, and is almost through with a bachelor's degree in archaeology from the University of Leicester, UK.
The ultimate action-packed science and technology magazine bursting with exciting information about the universeEngaging articles, amazing illustrations & exclusive interviewsmay have permanently changed our cosmic neighborhood by warping the orbits of the four outer planets, a new study suggests. The findings may shed light on why these planets' paths have certain peculiar features.'s planets formed.
Although most simulations created conditions very unlike the current solar system, the researchers found that in approximately 1% of the simulations, the visitor's passage altered the giant planets' orbits to approximately their current state. The interlopers in these near matches dove straight into the solar system, traveling way past Uranus' orbit, with some even grazing Mercury's path. And they were relatively tiny, ranging from two to 50 times the mass of Jupiter.
The simulations show that just one substellar object flyby was sufficient to alter the giant planets' trajectories. Because observations suggest substellar bodies are fairly numerous in the cosmos, visits by such objects may be more commonplace thanAbha Jain is a freelance science writer.
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