Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com – Jupiter’s enormous gravitational field protects the Earth from dangerous comets and asteroids that might otherwise hit our planet. Without Jupiter, life on our world may have vanished many times long ago. It’s hard to imagine our solar system without this gas giant, and yet Jupiter started its history far way and long ago from its current position.
Jupiter is not only the largest planet in our solar system, but it’s also the oldest. Credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Scientists from Lund University in Sweden have run advanced computer simulations to learn more about Jupiter’s early history. The study reveals that Jupiter formed four times further from the sun than its current orbit and migrated inwards in the solar system over a period of 700 000 years.
Jupiter Started As A Small Planet Far Way From The Sun
About 4.5 billion years ago, the planets were gradually built up by cosmic dust, which circled around our young sun in a disk of gas and particles. At the time, Jupiter was no larger than our own planet.
“This is the first time we have proof that Jupiter was formed a long way from the sun and then migrated to its current orbit. We found evidence of the migration in the Trojan asteroids orbiting close to Jupiter”, explains Simona Pirani, doctoral student in astronomy at Lund University, and the lead author of the study in a press statement.
Has The Asymmetry Mystery In Our Solar System Been Solved?
One of the puzzles astronomers have tried to shed light on is the asymmetry mystery in our solar system. It has previously been difficult to explain why the two asteroid groups do not contain the same number of asteroids, but researchers say they have now identified the reason by recreating the course of events of Jupiter’s formation and how the planet gradually drew in its Trojan asteroids.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Based on the data from extensive computer simulations, astronomers have calculated that the current asymmetry could only have occurred if Jupiter was formed four times further out in the solar system and subsequently migrated to its current position. During its journey towards the Sun, Jupiter’s own gravity then drew in more Trojans in front of it than behind it.
According to the calculations, Jupiter’s migration went on for around 700 000 years, in a period approximately 2-3 million years after the celestial body started its life as an ice asteroid far from the sun.
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During its long journey, inwards in the solar system followed a spiralling course in which Jupiter continued to circle around the sun, albeit in an increasingly tight path. The reason behind the actual migration relates to gravitational forces from the surrounding gases in the solar system.
The Trojan asteroids were drawn in when Jupiter was a young planet with no gas atmosphere. This suggests that these asteroids most probably consist of building blocks similar to those that formed Jupiter’s core.
Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com Staff Writer