Jakarta – Systems that are in the solar system have their own balance. The planets in the solar system are in such a position that they work as they should.
So, what happens if there is an ‘extra’ planet placed between Mars and Jupiter?
Reported from detikEdu, University of California-Riverside astrophysicist Stephen Kane has tried to examine there are two gaps in planetary science. In this solar system, the researchers found a discrepancy in the sizes of terrestrial planets or solid planets consisting of rocks like Earth and the sizes of gas giant planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Earth is the largest terrestrial planet in the solar system while the smallest gas giant planet is Neptune. Neptune is 4 times wider and 17 times the size of Earth. Between these two planets there is nothing or there is a gap.
“In other star systems there are lots of planets with masses in that gap. We call them super-Earths,” said Kane.
Another gap is in location, relative to the Sun, namely between Mars and Jupiter.
“Planetary scientists often hope that there is something between the two planets. Like a real estate location that is wasted,” he said.
This gap could be a means of gaining important insights into the architecture of the solar system and into Earth’s evolution. To find out, Kane ran a dynamic computer simulation of a planet between Mars and Jupiter with different mass ranges, then observed the effect on the orbits of all the other planets.
Planet Modeling Results Between Mars-Jupiter
From the simulations carried out, scientists found that this could actually be a major disaster for the solar system. Jupiter is much larger than all the other planets combined with a mass reaching 318 times the mass of Earth so that its gravitational influence is enormous.
If any super-Earth in the solar system, a passing star, or other celestial body slightly disturbs Jupiter, then all the other planets will be greatly affected.
“This fictional planet gave Jupiter enough boost to mess things up. While many astronomers wanted this extra planet, luckily we don’t have one,” explained Kane.
If there is a super-Earth planet between Mars-Jupiter, then this can kick out Mercury, Venus, Earth from the solar system. Not only that, it can also disrupt the orbits of Uranus and Neptune to throw them out of orbit.
Super-Earths are also said to change the shape of Earth’s orbit, making it far less habitable than it is today, if not ending life entirely.
The researchers then changed the experimental model by shrinking the mass of the super-Earth and staying between Mars and Jupiter. As a result, it looks likely that the planets may remain stable for long periods of time despite slight movements in all directions but eventually things will go badly.
The findings from the simulation results made Kane respect even more for this delicate system that unites the planets in the Sun’s solar system.
“Our solar system is more finely tuned than I thought before. Everything works like a complicated clock gear. Put more gears into the mix and everything breaks,” concluded Kane.
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(urw/alk)
