Artist’s impression of a fifth giant planet being ejected from the solar system. Image credit: Southwest Research Institute
The existence of a 5th giant gas planet at the time of the Solar System’s formation – in addition to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune that we know of today – was first proposed in 2011. But if it did exist, how did it get pushed out? For years, scientists have suspected the ouster was either Saturn or Jupiter.
“Our evidence points to Jupiter,” said Ryan Cloutier
Planet ejections occur as a result of a close planetary encounter in which one of the objects accelerates so much that it breaks free from the massive gravitational pull of the Sun...
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