Simulation Suggests There May Have Been a Fifth Gas Giant in Our Solar System - Polidicks

[QUOTE][B]A “violent encounter with Jupiter” may have hurled a fifth gas giant out of our solar system billions of years ago.[/B] A simulation done by the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado suggests that our solar system may have included another gaseous giant, placed between Saturn and Uranus. The computer models may prove how the planets of our solar system settled in their current position, a long-standing source of mystery to astronomers. The formation of Uranus and Neptune has puzzled astronomers for years. The assumed disc of gas and dust that formed the two gas giants would have been too thin at their current locations to form the icy planets. It’s more likely that the two, and Jupiter and Saturn, were closer together in the earlier days of our solar system, and spread out once the disc was depleted. The “five gravitational bullies of the solar system, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune” jockeyed for position after being formed. According to past simulations, which only included the current planets, either Uranus or Neptune at least should have been jettisoned into deep space. “People didn’t know how to resolve that,” says David Nesvorny of the Southwest Research Institute. He offers a new explanation: “A sacrificial ice giant between Saturn and Uranus.” [B]The existence of this new planet, who some of Nesvorny’s colleagues are calling Hades, is supported by the results of 6,000 computer simulations.[/B] Previous simulations only included Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in the outer solar system. But these new simulations also included models with five planets, testing different starting position scenarios. In 90 percent of the four planet models, the simulations ended with only three planets left in the outer system. But in half of the five planet simulations, four planets in very similar positions to our current solar system resulted. The results with the most similar positions started with a fifth planet between Saturn and Uranus, and ended with this planet cast out after an encounter with Jupiter. These results also suggest that Jupiter “jumped” to its current position from one that was closer to the sun. This occurred in the simulations that allowed the four inner planets, including Earth, to survive the clash of the gaseous titans. “This jumping Jupiter theory is very difficult to achieve for the four-planet system. But it’s a natural consequence of the five-planet system,” says Nesvorny. The planetary battle could also explain the heavily cratered surface of the moon caused during the “late heavy bombardment.” The Kuiper Belt and Oord Cloud were not fully formed, and the disturbance could have flung debris from these regions of proto-planets beyond Neptune towards the inner system.[/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-09/lost-planet[/url]

And idiots will think it's Nibiru

It's Nibiru

[QUOTE=Garik;32463190]And idiots will think it's Nibiru[/QUOTE]or what ever the other planet was like planet x or something

It's Planet X

In this corner of the solar system, weighing at 1.56 x 1027 +/- 2.74 x 1026 kg, stands Jupiter. In this corner, weighing at somewhat less, stands Hades. What I thought of

[QUOTE=Meatpuppet;32463219]In this corner of the solar system, weighing at 1.56 x 1027 +/- 2.74 x 1026 kg, stands Jupiter. In this corner, weighing at somewhat less, stands Hades. What I thought of[/QUOTE]And the referee - the sun Let's get ready to rumble!

Hades - what an awesome name for a planet.

[QUOTE=Randdalf;32463278]Hades - what an awesome name for a planet.[/QUOTE] yeah bet it's hell on the surface

How accurate are accretion simulations? Because to be honest, how likely is it that you can infer the state of the primordial cloud to any degree of accuracy, and how accurate are the simulations? It sounds awfully close to trying to simulate weather, and we all know how that goes past six days -- Only these simulations are on the scale of hundreds of millions of years.

[QUOTE=RBM11;32463214]It's Planet X[/QUOTE] What?

[QUOTE=Eudoxia;32463412]How accurate are accretion simulations? Because to be honest, how likely is it that you can infer the state of the primordial cloud to any degree of accuracy, and how accurate are the simulations? It sounds awfully close to trying to simulate weather, and we all know how that goes past six days -- Only these simulations are on the scale of hundreds of millions of years.[/QUOTE] God I love everything you post

[QUOTE=Master X;32463419]What?[/QUOTE] Planet X [img]http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/f50/c25/f50c25b4-8984-447d-9e2b-8cb523d23fb8[/img] [img]http://astewar9.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/10-1.png[/img]

[QUOTE=Randdalf;32463278]Hades - what an awesome name for a planet.[/QUOTE] But we already have Pluto, the Roman version of Hades

maybe we just haven't found it yet

[QUOTE=wari65;32463855]But we already have Pluto, the Roman version of Hades[/QUOTE] So what should we name this hypothetical planet, then?

Imagine, there just might be a planet that used to be in our solar system, still floating out there today, somewhere.

[QUOTE=Shane Alvarado;32464013]So what should we name this hypothetical planet, then?[/QUOTE] Krishna

[QUOTE=wari65;32463855]But we already have Pluto, the Roman version of Hades[/QUOTE] Yeah, but the name "Pluto" was revoked to that ex planet, thus we can reinstate it, right? :D

[QUOTE=Shane Alvarado;32464013]So what should we name this hypothetical planet, then?[/QUOTE] To keep with naming planets after Roman mythological names: [b]Apollo[/b] (it's both the Greek and Roman name)

[QUOTE=DoctorSalt;32464170]Yeah, but the name "Pluto" was revoked to that ex planet, thus we can reinstate it, right? :D[/QUOTE] Technically, it's not the same name, so you could. It'd be kind of weird, though. And remember, our solar system isn't just the sun, the eight official planets, and their moons.

[QUOTE=CakeMaster7;32464236]To keep with naming planets after Roman mythological names: [b]Apollo[/b] (it's both the Greek and Roman name)[/QUOTE] Or Juno, or Vulcan, or whatever Athena's Roman name is... We're nowhere near the point of having to name planets after gods that already have planet/dwarf planets named after them.

[QUOTE=Shane Alvarado;32464013]So what should we name this hypothetical planet, then?[/QUOTE] Pluto Nash.

Let's make a planet and call it Elysion.

WHy not call it Arcadia or Celestia or Nixon?

[QUOTE=Aredbomb;32464541]Or Juno, or Vulcan, or whatever [B]Athena's Roman name is...[/B] We're nowhere near the point of having to name planets after gods that already have planet/dwarf planets named after them.[/QUOTE] Pallas, which I think is already the name of either an Asteroid or an Asteroid cluster.

Call it Dave.

[QUOTE=CakeMaster7;32464236]To keep with naming planets after Roman mythological names: [b]Apollo[/b] (it's both the Greek and Roman name)[/QUOTE] Or Bacchus, the Greek and Roman god of wine, the Greek name being Dionysus. It only makes sense, because it couldn't keep itself in orbit.

Would make more sense to call it Silenus then, Dionysus' mentor and teacher. He is pretty much always depicted being drunk, whereas it was generally the followers of Dionysus not Dionysus himself that were drunk.

[QUOTE=BCell;32466544]WHy not call it Arcadia or Celestia or [B]Nixon[/B]?[/QUOTE] Because then people will make up retarded conspiracy theories about it. It's just asking for trouble when you name something after that flabby-cheeked water boiler.