Planetary Society logo
  • “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

Giant Planet Migrations

Giant Planet Migrations
Giant Planet Migrations This diagram shows snapshots of how the giant planets' orbits moved over time, scattering the original Kuiper belt. Jupiter is green, Saturn is oragne, Uranus is light blue, and Neptune is dark blue. One AU (Astronomical Unit) is the distance between Earth and the Sun. Left: Before Jupiter and Saturn reach 2:1 resonance. Center: Scattering of Kuiper belt objects after Neptune’s orbital shift. Right: End result of the process. Mark Booth / Wikipedia