Planets and Dynamical Dominance: History and Prospects

Details Planets and Dynamical Dominance: History and Prospects Planets and Dynamical Dominance: History and Prospects

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.0701s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #7.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.397

Other

Scientific paper

Since the time of Copernicus, the number of objects called "planets” has changed along with our understanding of the architecture of the solar system. Former "planets” include the Sun, Moon, the first 15 known asteroids, and Pluto.
The IAU definition of a planet as a heliocentric body that "has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit” is problematic. Clearance is never complete because the asteroid and comet reservoirs are leaky, and resonant planet-crossing orbits can be stable. A more accurate criterion for planetary status is "dynamical dominance". An object is dynamically dominant if it sweeps up or scatters other objects from its orbital zone in a time much less than the age of the system (theoretical criterion), and/or if its mass is much greater than the total mass of all other objects in its orbital zone (observational criterion), where "orbital zone” can also be simply quantified.
The eight planets in the solar system dynamically dominate all other heliocentric objects by orders of magnitude. Whether a comparable gap exists in other planetary systems remains to be seen.
Numerical experiments suggest that our solar system is dynamically full, with almost no room left to insert another planet in a stable orbit between the existing ones. Dynamical studies of other planetary systems suggest that this may be a general rule. The "packed planetary system” hypothesis of Raymond and Barnes recently led to the successful prediction of a planet (HD 74156d), the first since the discovery of Neptune in 1846. It suggests that other systems may also contain a distinct set of planets that dynamically dominate swarms of smaller objects.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Planets and Dynamical Dominance: History and Prospects does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Planets and Dynamical Dominance: History and Prospects, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Planets and Dynamical Dominance: History and Prospects will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1436498