News Astronomy

The sun’s searing radiation led to the shuffling of the solar system’s planets

Sunlight evaporating gas jumbled the giant planets’ orbits, simulations suggest

illustration of sunlight heating and evaporating the disk of gas and dust around a young star

Sunlight heating and evaporating the disk of gas and dust around a young star (as seen in this illustration) may have triggered a shift in the orbits of the still-forming giant planets in the solar system’s early history.

JPL-Caltech/NASA

By Liz Kruesi

- More than 2 years ago

In the solar system’s early years, the still-forming giant planets sidestepped, did a do-si-do and then swung one of their partners away from the sun’s gravitational grasp.