The Early Dynamical Evolution of the Outer Solar System:



Hal Levison
Southwest Research Institute
Boulder CO, USA



I am going to try to convince you that:
  1. The 4 giant planets formed within 15AU or 20AU of the Sun.
  2. Beyond them was a massive disk that extended to ~30AU.
  3. The 4 giant planets slowly spread due to leakage from this disk.
  4. Jupiter and Saturn crossed the 1:2 mean motion resonance at 700Myr
    • Uranus and Neptune went unstable and scattered into the disk.
    • Producing the Trojans, Kuiper belt, and lunar Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB).
  5. Asteroid belt becomes unstable adding to the LHB.
  6. Uranus and Neptune evolve onto current orbits due to interactions with the disk.
5AU
10AU
15AU
20AU
30AU
And everyone lived happy ever after.
A Fairy Tale
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