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    Evidence of Early Planetary Shake-up

    September 11, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    SwRI scientist studied the binary asteroid Patroclus-Menoetius, shown in this artist’s conception, to determine that a shake-up of the giant planets likely happened early in the solar system’s history, within the first 100 million years. Credit: Image Courtesy of W.M. Keck Observatory/Lynette Cook

    SwRI scientist studied the binary asteroid Patroclus-Menoetius, shown in this artist’s conception, to determine that a shake-up of the giant planets likely happened early in the solar system’s history, within the first 100 million years.
    Credit: Image Courtesy of W.M. Keck Observatory/Lynette Cook

    Asteroid pair is the ‘smoking gun’ indicating an earlier altercation amongst the giants. Scientists at Southwest Research Institute studied an unusual pair of asteroids and discovered that their existence points to an early planetary rearrangement in our solar system.

    These bodies, called Patroclus and Menoetius, are targets of NASA’s upcoming Lucy mission. They are around 70 miles wide and orbit around each other as they collectively circle the Sun...

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