2015/06/17 by Kathryn Volk, Brett Gladman · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
paper · doi:10.1088/2041-8205/806/2/l26
openalex publication_date 2015/06/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
The Kepler mission results indicate that systems of tightly packed inner planets (STIPs) are present around of order 5% of FGK field stars (whose median age is ∼5 Gyr). We propose that STIPs initially surrounded nearly all such stars, and those observed are the final survivors of a process in which long-term metastability eventually ceases and the systems proceed to collisional consolidation or destruction, losing roughly equal fractions of systems every decade in time. In this context, we also propose that our solar system initially contained additional large planets interior to the current orbit of Venus, which survived in a metastable dynamical configuration for 1%–10% of the solar system's age. Long-term gravitational perturbations caused the system orbits to cross, leading to a cataclysmic event that left Mercury as the sole surviving relic.