Can the Nice Model Save the Earth? (Brasser et al. 2009)
- Recall that the Kuiper belt shows that the outer planets migrated.
- But look what happens to the terrestrial planets when the migration is smooth:
- The terrestrial planets become unstable!!!!!
- Happens because the planets cross secular resonances.
- If the giant planets encounter one another they can jump over the resonances.
- This can save the terrestrial planets.
- But only works ~6% of the time.
- This is a problem and an active area of research.
