Planet formation at home and abroad

 

 

 

 

 

More than 4000 exoplanets have been confirmed so far. Observations suggest that other planetary systems have dynamical architectures strikingly different from the solar system. Most gas giant planets have very eccentric orbits, unlike Jupiter and Saturn. Statistical analysis also suggests that super-Earths – planets with sizes between 1 and 4 Earth radii; or masses between 1 and 20 Earth masses –  with orbital periods shorter than 100 days exist around at least 30-50%  of the sun-like stars. Mercury's orbital period is about 88 days but no hot super-Earth exists inside its orbit. Given that most observed exoplanetary systems are dramatically different from our own, one question arises: how did the solar system get so weird?

I will start by presenting an overview of planet formation and then use the results of N-body numerical simulations to discuss a series of events that may have happened during the solar system formation to explain why our home planetary system is so different from others.

 

 

Link da transmissão: https://www.youtube.com/c/AstronomiaIAGUSP/live