A planet between Mars and Jupiter would destroy the Earth. We are lucky that there is no such planet

(ORDO NEWS) — According to a model built by the University of California at Riverside, a terrestrial planet whose orbit would pass between Mars and Jupiter could push the Earth out of the solar system and destroy life on our planet.

The sun is an ordinary star, the Earth is an ordinary planet. But it seems that planetary systems like our solar system are very rare.

Astrophysicist Stephen Cain, lead author of the paper, explained that there are some rather strange “gaps” in the solar system.

Firstly, this is the gap between the sizes of the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) and the sizes of the giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune).

The largest terrestrial planet is Earth, and the smallest giant is Neptune, which is four times larger in diameter and 17 times more massive than Earth.

There is nothing between them. “In other star systems, there are many planets with masses in that gap.

We call them super-Earths,” Kane said. Another “gap” is between Mars and Jupiter. There seems to be another planet here.

Astrophysicists have tried to bridge both of these gaps by placing a super-Earth between Mars and Jupiter.

Modeling has shown that the appearance of such a planet inevitably leads to the catastrophe of the entire solar system.

“This fictional planet gives a small push to Jupiter, but that push is enough to destabilize everything else,” Kane says. “Despite the fact that many astronomers dreamed of this extra planet, it’s good that we don’t have it.”

Jupiter and stuff

Jupiter is much larger than all the other planets combined; its mass is 318 times that of the Earth, so its gravitational influence is enormous.

If a super-Earth in our solar system, a passing star, or any other celestial object were to disturb Jupiter even a little, all the other planets would be greatly affected.

Depending on the mass and exact location of the super-Earth, its presence could eventually eject Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars out of the solar system.

Such a super-Earth could also destabilize the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, and also throw them into outer space.

The presence of a super-Earth changes the shape of the Earth’s orbit: its eccentricity increases (that is, the orbit is greatly elongated), such an orbit is much worse suited for life, if life on such an Earth is possible at all.

Kane says: “Our solar system is more finely tuned than I previously thought. Everything works like an intricate clockwork. Add just one detail and everything breaks.”

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