[meteorite-list] INNER SOLAR SYSTEM

[Matson, Robert]

Hi Pete and List,

With regard to the time-lapse view of the inner planets' orbits,
Pete asked:

> Considering how this solar system is believed to have formed, do you
> think that these dynamics are something that could be expected in
> other systems, too?

Absolutely.

> What could have kick-started it? Only the Sun, somehow, right?

Nope -- read on...

> Or would you think that some past near-catastrophe could have spun
> the plates? (one of them there new-fangled wandering stars)
> It is just a little difficult for me to imagine these wobbles
> were borne without an outside influence.

Ah, but there ~is~ an outside influence -- a big one.  Jupiter is
what causes the majority of the harmonic changes in inner planets'
eccentricity and inclination.  (Saturn, Uranus and Neptune also
provide smaller perturbations.)  What would be interesting to see
for comparison is a second movie in which Jupiter's influence is
turned off.

--Rob