Friday, June 12th, 2009

Colliding Planets (Don't Panic)

Due to the chaotic evolution of the planetary orbits in the Solar System, a close approach or even a collision could occur between Venus and the Earth in less than 5 billion years, lthough the odds are small. Artistic design, J Vidal-Madjar. Planet textures from NASA. Copyright: IMCCE-CNRS.

New research finds a small -- but present -- chance of a collision between Earth and one of its planetary neighbors in the next few billion years. Writing in the journal Nature, a team of astrophysicists works the odds of irregularities in the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars eventually leading to a collision between two of the planets. Other scenarios, also unlikely, lead to the ejection of one of the planets from the solar system. The simulations performed by the researchers are more accurate than previous models, with fewer averages and approximations. We'll find out more.