Comments on: Another possible interstellar visitor… https://habitablezone.com/2018/05/21/another-possible-interstellar-visitor/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 12:03:37 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2018/05/21/another-possible-interstellar-visitor/#comment-41512 ER Tue, 22 May 2018 03:24:20 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=71029#comment-41512 A retrograde orbit is not necessarily proof, and the early solar system must have been a pretty chaotic place, there may have been many opportunities for a 3-body encounter to slingshot this guy into its present orbit. The fact that its in resonance orbit with Jupiter is also not proof either, in fact, it argues just the opposite. (Pluto, for example, is in resonance with Neptune.) A resonance orbit is usually a super stable dynamic situation and it is usually a result of all the OTHER, non-resonant orbits, to have been weeded out. In other words, in the chaos of the early solar nebula, all the objects that weren't either in stable orbits OR in resonance collided with one another or got ejected altogether. They are not common, they are just super stable so they tend to be preserved and now they appear to be common. I.e., resonant orbits are selected for. Still, a retrograde, resonant body could also have been PLACED in that orbit, you know, deliberately inserted, maybe not all that long ago, so that it would stick out like a sore thumb and invite inspection. It definitely deserves a recon visit, but I would caution caution... Orbital resonance is one of those phenomena that is quite simple and straight forward, (its strictly a consequence of ordinary Newtonian mechanics) but was totally unexpected. Now we're noticing it everywhere, it keeps on popping up in the most unexpected places. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_resonance A retrograde orbit is not necessarily proof, and the early solar system must have been a pretty chaotic place, there may have been many opportunities for a 3-body encounter to slingshot this guy into its present orbit.

The fact that its in resonance orbit with Jupiter is also not proof either, in fact, it argues just the opposite. (Pluto, for example, is in resonance with Neptune.) A resonance orbit is usually a super stable dynamic situation and it is usually a result of all the OTHER, non-resonant orbits, to have been weeded out. In other words, in the chaos of the early solar nebula, all the objects that weren’t either in stable orbits OR in resonance collided with one another or got ejected altogether. They are not common, they are just super stable so they tend to be preserved and now they appear to be common. I.e., resonant orbits are selected for.

Still, a retrograde, resonant body could also have been PLACED in that orbit, you know, deliberately inserted, maybe not all that long ago, so that it would stick out like a sore thumb and invite inspection.

It definitely deserves a recon visit, but I would caution caution…

Orbital resonance is one of those phenomena that is quite simple and straight forward, (its strictly a consequence of ordinary Newtonian mechanics) but was totally unexpected. Now we’re noticing it everywhere, it keeps on popping up in the most unexpected places.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_resonance

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