Cosmology: oddball solar system (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, March 24, 2015, 14:19 (3533 days ago) @ David Turell

With many solar systems now described other than our own, ours stands out as different. The paper suggests a theory as to why:-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150323162245.htm-"'Now that we can look at our own solar system in the context of all these other planetary systems, one of the most interesting features is the absence of planets inside the orbit of Mercury," said Gregory Laughlin, professor and chair of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz and coauthor of the paper. "The standard issue planetary system in our galaxy seems to be a set of super-Earths with alarmingly short orbital periods. Our solar system is looking increasingly like an oddball."-"The new paper explains not only the "gaping hole" in our inner solar system, he said, but also certain characteristics of Earth and the other inner rocky planets, which would have formed later than the outer planets from a depleted supply of planet-forming material."