If an enlarged version of planet Earth suddenly appeared in the intersolar system Mars and Jupiter would appear, what would happen? This complex question has been the subject of a recent research Journal of Planetary Sciences It has been published. The study sought to understand how “super-Earths,” or a class of planets much more common in other star systems, could affect our solar neighborhood.
As it is known, the presence of an exoplanet in this part of the solar system can destroy life on our planet in various ways, including throwing the earth directly into the sun or throwing it out of the solar system. Super-Earths, which may have 1.5 to 10 times the mass of Earth, can even host larger icy planets such as Uranus and Shake Neptune and take them out of the solar system.
This thought experiment, while certainly interesting and entertaining, is not simply about the hypothetical transformation of our solar system. According to the recent research that is available Steven Kaneprofessor of planetary astrophysics at the University of California Riverside, imaginary super-Earths on a larger scale can provide important insights into how the structure and evolution of our solar system compares to other planetary systems.
Kane in an interview with Weiss website He says: “There are many planets between the size of Earth and Neptune; Worlds that are maybe twice the size of Earth and we call them super-Earths. The absence of such a planet in the solar system is a source of regret for scientists who say that they wish we had a super-Earth, for example, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and we could study it carefully.
“This topic of wishing we had a super-Earth in our solar system comes up so much in conversations that I really wanted to check it out and say, well, let’s just say it’s a wish come true,” Kane adds. What will the solar system be like with such a planet and what consequences will it face?”
Pointing to some strange gravitational effects observed in the outer parts of the solar system, some scientists say there may be a planet lurking nearly 20 times the distance between the Sun and Neptune. This hypothetical world, called the ninth planet, could be a super-Earth; But its existence is still unknown. Even if a super-Earth is hidden far beyond the known planets, it would be difficult to send a spacecraft to visit it at such a vast distance.
The lack of a known super-Earth in our solar system is unfortunate for scientists studying these mysterious worlds, as it leaves many questions unanswered that might be resolved with a closer look. For example, it is not known at what point rocky planets like Earth transform into small gas giants like Neptune and Uranus; Or maybe some super-Earths are suitable for supporting life and even More habitable than Earth-like planets.
Although super-Earths appear to be abundant in the Milky Way, and many are found in our closest neighboring systems, the environment on these planets remains largely a mystery. So wouldn’t it be nice to just wave a magic wand and add a super-Earth to our solar system so we can get a closer look?
In order to carry out his research, Kane ran thousands of simulations and added super-Earths of various masses to our present-day system to review the results over 10 million years. “We have to be careful what we wish for,” he says.
Kane placed these new worlds between two and four astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. (One AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun). Super-Earths were placed in this distance to the wide gap between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, which is currently occupied by the main asteroid belt. The presence of these worlds in this location often led to the formation of a phenomenon known as “Medium Orbital Resonance” (MMR). MMR is the relationship between the orbital frequencies of different planets that can affect their path around a star.
In his study, Kane notes that the inner planets are particularly vulnerable to the accretion of a super-Earth planet. The existence of the super-Earth leads to the formation of several highly unstable regions in the system. The two- to four-AU wide region contains multiple MMR sites with inner planets; A problem that further reinforces the chaotic evolution of the inner solar system. Also, MMR locations with exoplanets in the region between two and four AU have potentially dramatic implications for ice giants.
For example, some Keen super-Earths eventually eject the inner planets, including Earth, into interstellar space, or worse, directly toward the Sun. If this scenario were to happen in reality, humans and all other forms of terrestrial life would either sink into cosmic darkness as they moved away from the sun, or evaporate by being swallowed up by the sun.
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