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brainwhatwhat t1_j1oo5zl wrote

The type of materials on a planet and their weight plus gravity.

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TinyDayDreamer0 OP t1_j1ooc14 wrote

so it means heavier planets orbit closer to sun and gas planets orbit far?

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mahatmakg t1_j1or1vl wrote

Not necessarily no. The arrangement of the planets in our solar system today came about because of the nature of the protoplanetary disc as the sun was being formed. They have basically been continuing in the same orbits for 4+ billion years. I'm not sure of your question is more about orbital mechanics or the history of formation side of things

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protoplanetary_disk?wprov=sfla1

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Elohachus t1_j1ouspy wrote

If you look up Hot Jupiters and Planetary Migration, it’s possible our system is a rarity, in that there are multiple observed cases of gas giants of extremely short orbital periods and proximity to their parent stars, which is suspected to be due to an inward migration. We’re lucky Jupiter hasn’t done the same and swallowed up the terrestrial planets. It’s position also protects us from many potential incoming meteorites.

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bostondana2 t1_j1p3ekb wrote

Technically it protects us from meteors. A meteorite is only once it's landed on the Earth.

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mentive t1_j1p82lz wrote

Perhaps those have just been easier to detect, for obvious reasons.

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ObviousDarth t1_j1ooxf1 wrote

Mass, Density, and the gravitational effects from other objects and planets. Like remove Jupiter from our solar system and watch the fun.

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ShanAliZaidi t1_j1ovy2k wrote

>Like remove Jupiter from our solar system and watch the fun.

There must be simulated animation for it somewhere?

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InsiderJoking_ t1_j1p82mc wrote

Thought this was a r/jokes post and was extremely disappointed with the punchline lmao my b

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the_fungible_man t1_j1osglr wrote

The mass of the central body (the Sun) and the velocity of the object in orbit determine the path said object will take.

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NortWind t1_j1oswbp wrote

It would be a good idea to read "Newton's Clock: Chaos in the Solar System" by Ivars Peterson.

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ChatahoocheeRiverRat t1_j1opdh3 wrote

It has to do with orbital mechanics and gravitational interactions between bodies. Look into "orbital resonance".

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space-ModTeam t1_j1pgywi wrote

Hello u/TinyDayDreamer0, your submission "What determines the space between two planets?" has been removed from r/space because:

  • Such questions should be asked in the "All space questions" thread stickied at the top of the sub.

Please read the rules in the sidebar and check r/space for duplicate submissions before posting. If you have any questions about this removal please message the r/space moderators. Thank you.

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simcoder t1_j1opbod wrote

Think of it like one of those gold mining riffle concentrator things. The solar system is kind of like that.

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RudeMutant t1_j1opre0 wrote

Planets like to fit in places where the orbits are in tune with each other. Or more precisely: sometimes perfectly out of tune

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BrevityIsTheSoul t1_j1p38qn wrote

More accurately, planets with orbits that are not in tune with each other will drift in their orbits until they're in tune or fall into their sun or whatever.

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RudeMutant t1_j1rij4b wrote

It's difficult to throw something into the sun, most likely the planet will be ejected from the system. But yes. If there is too much synchronicity (?) the bodies will interact too much and one will slow down and fall in, the other will speed up and get higher

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Double_Trust6266 t1_j1opw3u wrote

The mass of a planet, never changes unless you send an object (mass) out of earths orbit, like voyager 1 and voyager 2. If you alter the planets mass, you alter the gravitational pull to the Sun!

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the_fungible_man t1_j1otz3y wrote

This is not correct on several levels.

The mass of the Earth is constantly changing:

  • Atmospheric loss: -100000 tons/year.
  • Micrometeoroids: +50000 tons/year.

This net mass loss has no measurable effect on the shape of the Earth's orbit. However, the continuous mass loss of the Sun (5 million tons/sec via fusion and the solar wind) does mean the Earth's orbit grows ever so slightly more distant from year to year.

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Lif3Fu3L t1_j1os1hk wrote

So what your saying is all the space trash, ISS, Hubble, etc is mass that has left the plant? And the sun’s gravitational pull is stronger and could be the actual cause of global warming?

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ttraband t1_j1p2ul1 wrote

Anything in orbit around the earth (all the space trash, ISS, Hubble) is still part of the earth’s mass from an orbital mechanics point of view. The fact that it’s a little further away from center of mass of the earth is an infinitesimally small rounding error when looking at the mass of the earth and the sun.

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TharTheBard t1_j1p75fh wrote

Your mass has no influence on how much you are being pulled to an object, only your distance from it does. Orbits of planets are determined by distance from the object they orbit and their velocity. At given distance you have to be in given velocity range to stay in orbit.

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Double_Trust6266 t1_j1os7w6 wrote

Maybe the other way round? Less mass and we are slightly further away? Colder? Not hotter

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Dr_DMT t1_j1otyd7 wrote

Or maybe our days just get shorter by a fraction of a second and that mass loss is made up for in centrifugal forces.

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