What would happen if the super-Earth was in the middle of the solar system?

The appearance of a large rocky planet in the solar system can cause orbital disturbances, pushing Earth and many other planets out of the system.

A planet as large as a super-Earth would cause Orbital disorders most of the planet, according to a new study published in the journal Planetary Science. Super Earth is a term used to refer to planets larger than Earth but lighter than gas giants. Research results show that the smallest changes in Jupiter’s orbit, larger than all other planets in the system combined, profoundly affect the balanced orbits of the remaining celestial bodies, Space reported on March 13.

The Kepler-62f super-Earth orbits a star 1,200 light-years away that is smaller and cooler than the Sun. (Photo: NASA).

Exoplanet-hunting missions like Keeler and NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) are helping astronomers recognize that super-Earths are common in the Milky Way. About a third of all exoplanets are super-Earths. They suggest that the solar system does not have a super-Earth because Jupiter prevented its formation by moving toward the asteroid belt and then back, pushing more material toward the Sun.

Super Earths could be 10 times larger than Earth, Stephen Kane, an astronomer at the University of California, Riverside, and his colleagues simulated planets of varying masses and placed them at different distances in the main asteroid belt between Mars and the stars. It started with a super-Earth located at a distance twice the distance between the Earth and the Sun or 2 AU (one astronomical unit U is 297 million km) and gradually increased the distance to the outer edge of the planet’s asteroid belt. (4 AU or 597 million km). This leads to thousands of simulations, with each thin tissue starting today and ending 10 million years later. Every 100 years, Kane will record the aftermath on eight planets in the solar system.

According to the simulation results, the two 4 planets in the inner edge of the system are Mercury, Venus, Mars and Earth, in particular sensitive to orbital changes. In many cases, some or all four planets have been expelled from the solar system. In none of the thousands of simulations does Jupiter or Saturn appear to have been ejected from the system. But In some cases, two gas giants will knock out other planetsincluding the new super-Earth or Uranus.

When a planet is 7 times larger than the mass of Earth Gliese 163c located outside Mars, simulations show that the orbits of the four planets in the inner system become unstable. The orbits of Earth and Venus become strange or follow an oval so long that they can pass very close to each other. The change in orbit then released impact energy onto Mercury, subsequently causing the planet to rapidly exit the system. Mars has only existed for 5 million years, Earth and Venus will exit the system after about 8 million years.

Unlike rocky planets, gas giant planet, especially Jupiter and Saturn, less severely affected by super-Earth. Their orbits are only slightly unstable at orbital resonances (MMR), where celestial bodies have orbits that exert a periodic gravitational interaction effect on each other.

When Kane placed a Gliese 163c super-Earth outside the asteroid belt, the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn were so ovoid that they excluded the new planet and were followed by Uranus. In this case, even the smallest change at the outer edge of the solar system affects the inner planet. For example, Mars was ejected from the system just two million years after Uranus.

Adding a super-Earth would be the least disruptive if the planet is at the edge of the asteroid belt, about 3 AU (447 million km) from the Sun. Here, it will have few interactions with the giant planets.

Article source: VnExpress