Scientists discover secret ‘symmetries’ that protect Earth from the chaos of space | Live Science
Earth probably shouldn’t exist.
That’s because the orbits of the inner solar system planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are chaotic, and models have suggested that these inner planets should have crashed into each other by now. And yet, that hasn’t happened.
New research published May 3 in the journal Physical Review X (opens in new tab) may finally explain why.
Through a deep plunge into the models for planetary motion, the researchers discovered that the motions of the inner planets are constrained by certain parameters that act as a tether that inhibits the system’s chaos. Besides providing a mathematical explanation for the apparent harmony in our solar system, the new study’s insights may help scientists understand the trajectories of exoplanets surrounding other stars.
Sounds like another fine tuning mystery. Or maybe just tuning. Of course, if we get obliterated by a comet, all the fine tuning arguments will go out the window, at least in terms of their rhetorical strength.