Simulation results that ``the earth will be expelled from the solar system and life will die out'' with just one extra small planet
Advances in observation technology have revealed that there are many planets like Earth outside the solar system, raising expectations for the discovery of extraterrestrial life. However, computer simulations that place terrestrial planets common in other star systems in the solar system have revealed that the solar system is more exquisitely balanced than astronomers have thought so far.
The Dynamical Consequences of a Super-Earth in the Solar System - IOPscience
The planet that could end life on Earth: Experiment demonstrates the solar system's fragility
https://phys.org/news/2023-03-planet-life-earth-solar-fragility.html
Stephen Kane, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Riverside, published a paper on simulation results of placing virtual planets in the solar system in the peer-reviewed open access journal Planetary Science Journal.
Mr. Kane started this research with the purpose of investigating two 'gaps' in the solar system. The first problem gap is the size gap between 'terrestrial planets' and 'gas planets' in the solar system. The largest rocky planet in the Solar System is Earth and the smallest gas planet in the Solar System is Neptune, which is four times the size and 17 times the mass of Earth.
The figure below shows the planets of the solar system in actual size ratio. You can see at a glance the difference in size between rocky planets such as Earth and Mars and gas planets such as Jupiter.
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by CactiStaccing Crane
According to Mr. Kane, the solar system has too much gap between the size of the terrestrial planet and the gas planet compared to other star systems. 'There are many planets in other star systems with masses that would fill this gap. Astronomers call these rocky planets with masses greater than Earth
And the second gap is the gap between Mars and Jupiter. Below are the planets of the solar system arranged according to the actual distance ratio. You can see that the distance between the planets is greatly separated from the inner planets including Mars to the outside. According to Mr. Kane, astronomers often feel that 'It would be nice if there was some other planet in the gap between this Mars and Jupiter.'
by CactiStaccing Crane
To see what would happen if we filled this characteristic gap in the solar system, Cain placed planets of various sizes between Mars and Jupiter, and how that would affect the orbits of planets like Earth. Analyze what to give.
As a result, it turned out that a super-Earth between Mars and Jupiter would throw the Earth out of its orbit and out of the solar system. If the sun does not fall on the earth, the earth will become an extremely cold planet, and life on the earth will die out. In addition, it was found that not only the Earth but also the inner planetary system stars such as Mercury and Venus could be ejected from the solar system, and that the orbits of Uranus and Neptune also became unstable.
The direct cause of such a catastrophic event is that the super-Earth shifts the orbit of Jupiter. Jupiter is a gas giant with a mass 318 times that of Earth, so even a slight deviation in its orbit due to the influence of a terrestrial planet can have a huge impact on other planets.
The results of this research are also important in considering whether life exists on extrasolar planets. The possibility of finding a 'Jupiter-type planet', a gas planet far from its star, in other star systems is at most about 10%, but depending on whether or not this Jupiter-type planet exists, a terrestrial planet can obtain a stable environment. Because it depends a lot on whether Thus, Jupiter-like planets that help stabilize the orbits of terrestrial planets are called ' Good Jupiters .'
Regarding the simulation experiment this time, Mr. Kane said, ``I found that the solar system is more delicately adjusted than I had thought before.The planets in the solar system mesh like clockwork gears. , If the number of unnecessary gears increases, everything will be broken.'
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