Shock revelation: The solar system monster was even more monstrous
View of the planet Jupiter with close -up on the “pearl collar. Image captured by the juno probe of NASA. © Junocam/Nasa
Jupiter is by far the largest and massive planet in the solar system. Its diameter is worth 11 times that of the earth, its mass about 300 times, and nothing but its nucleus reaches the ten terrestrial masses. In short, it is a monster that only the sun surpasses.
Konstantin Batygin, an astronomer respected by the international scientific community, has just calculated that Jupiter was about twice as large in the beginnings of the solar system. According to his calculations, his volume then reached 2000 times that of our planet, against 1300 times currently.
A colossal magnetic field 50 times more intense
Likewise, Jupiter’s magnetic field was then 50 times more intense than that, however phenomenal, that it has 4 billion and a half years later.
The Jupiter’s magnetosphere would have been 50 times more intense in the past. © Volcanopele
The role of a small architect of the solar system, which is often lending to Jupiter in addition to that of the sun, was therefore absolutely crucial. “Our ultimate goal is to understand where we come from, and the determination of the first phases of the formation of this planet is essential to solve the puzzle”says Konstantin Batygin.
Jupiter’s current orbital data keep track of the past
The small moon moon and thebe are in the rings of Jupiter, called “Gossamer Rings”. © Simon Villeneuve
Celestial mechanics is beautiful. It is an open historical book for those who know how to put the orbits in equation and read between their curved lines. Constantin Batygin and his colleague Fred C. Adams (Caltech) are one of them. They therefore sought to understand the origin of the slight inclination of the orbit of the two small moons Amalthée and Thébé, which are quite close to Jupiter. And their conclusions are fascinating.
Amalthea and Thébé are the two moons of Jupiter whose analysis of the orbits allowed this discovery. © NASA/JPL
“It is surprising that even after 4.5 billion years, enough clues remain to reconstruct Jupiter’s physical state at the dawn of his existence”notes Fred Adams, who underlines this imprint left by the youth of the solar system, when The protoplanetary nebula surrounding the young sun gave birth to the planets.
These results come from a method allowing to ignore the usual uncertainties linked to gases in planetary training models. Indeed, the orbital dynamics of the moons retains the trace of the kinetic moment of the planets. Constantine Batygin can therefore ensure that “What we have established here is a precious reference, a point from which we can rebuild with confidence the evolution of our solar system.”
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