Science Tidbits #6

[Lupine]

^More speculation than anything. The problem is that we now know of numerous planetary systems where you have large planets whose orbits are surprisingly close together that are not producing the catastrophes described here.

[RJDiogenes]

Yeah, some of those solar systems are incredibly compact-- like TRAPPIST-1, for example. It seems like there must be an infinite number of stable configurations. But this article does make me wonder how many of those solar systems have asteroid belts like ours. Some of them also seem to have significant gaps between their planets.

[Lupine]

^Last I heard Epsilon Eridani does.

[RJDiogenes]

Oh, interesting. I hadn't heard that before. I'll have to check it out.

[scottydog]

^Last I heard Epsilon Eridani does.

That's really fascinating. A taxonomy of solar system types is inevitable.

[Lupine]

Just noticed that this thread has become as large as a solar system.

Time to go to a new one... thread that is, not a solar system.