Will Jupiter's Gravity Throw the Solar System Into Chaos?

[n2doc]

Scientists Ask: "Will Jupiter's Gravity Throw the Solar System Into Chaos"?

There been a lot of media attention over the possibility of asteroids and meteors striking Earth and causing cataclysmic damage, but now some scientists are saying that the planet Mercury (sunris could also possibly smash into our planet. Huh? That sounds bad.

Jacques Laskar of the Paris Observatory, as well as Konstantin Batygin and Gregory Laughlin of the University of California, Santa Cruz reached the same unsettling conclusion using separate computer simulations of long-term planetary motion.

According to Laughlin, "The solar system isn't as stable as we'd thought."

Specifically, both teams found that Jupiter's gravity could eventually make Mercury's orbit so out of round that it overlaps with the path of Venus. This kind of close encounter would potentially send the inner solar system into chaos.

"Once Mercury crosses Venus's orbit," Laughlin says, "Mercury is in serious trouble."

Their models show that Mercury would be forced into one of four unpleasant scenarios if its orbit were disturbed.
Scenario 1: Mercury will crash into the Sun
Scenario 2: Mercury will be ejected from the solar system altogether
Scenario 3: Mercury will crash into Venus
Scenario 4: Worst-case-scenario, Mercury will crash into Earth

more:
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/12/scientists-ask.html