The new Super Highway network was invented to travel through the solar system

Researchers have discovered a new super highway network to travel through the solar system much faster than before. Such paths can propel comets and asteroids nearby Thursday To NeptuneLess than a decade away and 100 astronomical units within a century. They can be used to send spacecraft relatively fast into the distances of our planetary system and to monitor and understand objects close to Earth that may collide with our planet.

In their study published in the November 25, 2020 issue Scientific advances, The researchers observed the dynamic structure of these orbits, creating a series of interconnected curves called space manifolds that extend from the asteroid belt Uranus And beyond. This newly discovered “celestial autophone” or celestial highway has been in operation for decades, typically hundreds of thousands or millions of years apart from the solar system dynamics.

This video shows the global curve-like structure of space multiples in the solar system. The diagram shows the area between the outer edge of the main asteroid belt at 3 AU beyond the semi-large axis of Uranus at 20 AU. Orbits located in standard manifolds appear lighter in color. Credit: University of California San Diego

The most obvious curve structures are attached to Jupiter and the strong gravitational forces it exerts. The population of Jupiter-family comets (comets with an orbital period of 20 years) and small-scale solar system systems called centaurs are also controlled by such multiples in unprecedented time measurements. Some of these bodies will collide with Jupiter or end up being ejected from the solar system.

The structures were solved by collecting numerical data on millions of orbits in our solar system and calculating how these orbits fit into already known space multiples. The results need to be further explored to determine how they can be used by spacecraft or how such multiples operate near Earth, controlling asteroid and meteor encounters, as well as the growing population of man-made objects. In the Earth-Moon system.

Note: Natalie Dodorovic, De Wu and Aaron J. “Curves of Chaos in the Solar System” by Rosengren, 25 November 2020, Scientific advances.
DOI: 10.1126 / sciadv.abd1313