Planet V is a hypothetical fifth planet posited by NASA scientists John Chambers and Jack Lissauer to have once existed between Mars and the asteroid belt, based on computer simulations. Chambers and Lissauer presented this idea during the 33rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, held from March 11 through 15, 2002.
Chambers and Lissauer proposed that a previously unknown terrestrial planet once existed in an eccentric and unstable orbit around the Sun, at least 4 Ga (four billion years) ago. They connect this planet, which they name Planet V, and its disappearance with the Late Heavy Bombardment episode of the Hadean era.
"The extra planet formed on a low-eccentricity orbit that was long-lived, but unstable", Chambers reported. About 3.9 billion years ago, Planet V was perturbed by gravitational interactions with the other inner planets. It was tossed onto a highly eccentric orbit that crossed the inner asteroid belt, a reservoir of material much larger than it is today. It spun through the inner belt of asteroids, causing them to fly into Mars-crossing orbits. This temporarily enhanced the population of bodies on Earth-crossing orbits, and also increased the lunar impact rate.
According to Chambers, Planet V is thought to have perished when it plunged into the Sun.
Famous quotes containing the word planet:
“After the planet becomes theirs, many millions of years will have to pass before a beetle particularly loved by God, at the end of its calculations will find written on a sheet of paper in letters of fire that energy is equal to the mass multiplied by the square of the velocity of light. The new kings of the world will live tranquilly for a long time, confining themselves to devouring each other and being parasites among each other on a cottage industry scale.”
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)