Jupiter beat Earth to a place in the solar system 4.6 billion years ago

Our solar system the largest planet Jupiter betrayed Earth’s fate in time – perhaps even before our planet even existed.

After all, the gas giant created gaps in the early solar system with its gravity.

These gaps prevented early solar system bodies, or building blocks, from hurtling towards the Sun.

The Sun’s gravity is so great that such a “threat” was completely real.

of Jupiter grew into a large gas planet early in the history of the solar system, around 4.6 billion years ago.

Its size and growth cut off the flow of gas and dust into the inner solar system and its core. Instead, some of the substance remained in the gaps.

The phenomenon was investigated by astronomers at Rice University in Houston, USA. The study was published by a scientific journal Science Advances.

“Jupiter laid the foundation for the architecture of the entire inner solar system,” said the associate professor of planetary sciences Andre Izidoro.

“Without it, we might not have Earth as we know it,” says Rice University’s Idozoro in the bulletin.

The rings and openings influenced how the rocky bodies became over time.

Astronomers modeled Jupiter’s rapid growth over millions of years.

The modeling showed that Jupiter impacted the swirling disk of gas and dust that had formed around the newly born Sun.

The results show that Jupiter’s massive gravity created ripples in the disc. The vibration formed annular bands of matter.

These dense rings trapped small dust particles. Otherwise, they would have twisted and eventually sunk into the Sun.

The dust particles slowly began to pile together. They became the rocky building blocks of the planets.

Jupiter opened a wide gap in the disc of dust. It divided the solar system into inner and outer zones. The inner planets include Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

At the same time, the division made by Jupiter prevented the materials from mixing freely between the zones, he says website Space.com.

This can still be seen in meteorites. Those elements in isotopes different tracks are visible, some from the inner solar system, others beyond Jupiter.

The isotope fingerprints of meteorites and the formation of planets are connected, says In Rice’s news graduate student Baibhav Srivastava. He has led research with Izidoro.

Some of the primitive meteorites were only formed millions of years later than the first, solid bodies of the solar system.

They evolved 2-3 million years after the first solid bodies.

The same ones rings and gaps are observed in young star systems and their accretion disks. Holes have been found in northern Chile Alma-teleskoopilla.

Giant planets therefore clearly shape the environment when they form.

Correction 30.10. at 10.10 am: Removed from the caption the sentence according to which the width of the red dot shown on the right in the picture would fit about ten globes.