Second Alignment Plane of Solar System Discovered
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:
Second alignment plane of solar system discovered:
A study of comet motions indicates that the solar system has a second alignment plane. Analytical investigation of the orbits of long-period comets shows that the aphelia of the comets, the point where they are farthest from the Sun, tend to fall close to either the well-known ecliptic plane where the planets reside or a newly discovered "empty ecliptic." This has important implications for models of how comets originally formed in the solar system.
[...] [Higuchi] showed that when the galactic gravity is taken into account, the aphelia of long-period comets tend to collect around two planes. First the well-known ecliptic, but also a second "empty ecliptic." The ecliptic is inclined with respect to the disk of the Milky Way by about 60 degrees. The empty ecliptic is also inclined by 60 degrees, but in the opposite direction. Higuchi calls this the "empty ecliptic" based on mathematical nomenclature and because initially it contains no objects, only later being populated with scattered comets.
Higuchi confirmed her predictions by cross-checking with numerical computations carried out in part on the PC Cluster at the Center for Computational Astrophysics of NAOJ. Comparing the analytical and computational results to the data for long-period comets listed in NASA's JPL Small Body Database showed that the distribution has two peaks, near the ecliptic and empty ecliptic as predicted. This is a strong indication that the formation models are correct and long-period comets formed on the ecliptic.
Journal Reference:
Arika Higuchi, Anisotropy of Long-period Comets Explained by Their Formation Process - IOPscience, The Astronomical Journal (DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/aba94d)
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