Simulations Point to 1 Lost Ice Giant as Key to Saving Jupiter and Uranus Moons
Updated
Updated · Space.com · May 29
Simulations Point to 1 Lost Ice Giant as Key to Saving Jupiter and Uranus Moons
3 articles · Updated · Space.com · May 29
122 simulations of the early outer solar system found only two scenarios where both Jupiter's and Uranus's moons survived, and both began with one extra ice giant.
Jupiter's moons endured in less than 15% of runs and Uranus's in about 9%, with the odds of both surviving the same scenario near 1%.
In the leading scenario, a five-giant-planet system saw Jupiter pass within 7 million km of the extra ice giant, ejecting it into interstellar space early in solar system history.
That lost planet appears to have shortened and reshaped giant-planet migration, limiting damaging encounters for Uranus while leaving Jupiter's moons disturbed but able to regain their orbital resonances.
The Icarus study says the exact sequence is unknowable because the Nice-model simulations are partly random, but it argues the initial number of ice giants is the crucial clue.
If our solar system's survival was a 1-in-100 long shot, how many failed alien worlds now litter the galaxy?
Our solar system sacrificed a planet for stability. Could its lost moons now harbor life in the dark between stars?
A lost giant planet is the secret to our existence. Can the Roman Space Telescope finally find this ghost world?
Unveiling the Solar System’s Fifth Giant: How the Lost Ice Giant Shaped Planetary Orbits, Moons, and the Kuiper Belt
Overview
Recent research led by Matthew Clement at Johns Hopkins University uses advanced computer simulations to explore the early history of our solar system. By studying the survival chances of the regular moons around Jupiter and Uranus, the team found that it was extremely unlikely for both moon systems to survive the chaotic period of planetary migration. The simulations showed that the moons’ survival was only possible if a fifth giant planet, similar to Uranus or Neptune, once existed and was later ejected from the solar system. This lost ice giant helps explain the current arrangement of planets and moons we see today.