Could the Planets Ever Collide?
Yet in Reality the Two Planets Can Never Get Close to Colliding, for Two Reasons. .. . That Puts Them in a So-Called Gravitational Resonance, Where Each Planet...
Yet in reality the two planets can never get close to colliding, for two reasons. ... That puts them in a so-called gravitational resonance, where each planet speeds up or slows down as the other approaches, which alters their paths and prevents them coming closer than around 2600 million km to each other.
Is it possible for the planets to collide?
a gravitational interaction can “kick” one of the planets very hard, either sending it into the sun or out of the solar system, or the mutual gravitational attraction of the two planets can cause them to merge, resulting in a spectacular collision.
What would happen if two planets collide?
If the cores collide at an angle then the planets may or may not merge, but in all cases a large amount of the gaseous envelope will be lost. Very oblique collisions do not disrupt the planets at all and both would continue on almost the same orbits without losing any mass.
Sarah Jenkins is a veteran tech journalist with over 12 years of experience covering artificial intelligence, mobile innovations, and digital ethics. Her insights have appeared in leading technology publications worldwide.
