I tend to reject the notion that Venus had anything other than a perfectly boring origin. It has so nearly perfectly circular an orbit that it simply must have accreted in position.
Earth’s early rotational speed, (after the moon-forming collision), was nearly Jovian in speed. It transferred a lot of momentum to the moon, pushing it higher in its orbit. (That particular form of anti-gravity is intriguing, but it seems to only work for large bodies.)
I think this accretion disk hypothesis for the inner planets is promising. The outer planets, like the original Olympian gods, seem to have done things that should not be discussed around women and children.
Circularization of Venus’ orbit may be at least in part a consequence of having no satellite, and in any case doesn’t relate to its origin. Mercury OTOH has no satellite, and has the highest eccentricity of the major planets.
-re lunar origin-
When the Days Were Shorter
Alaska Science Forum (Article #742) | November 11, 1985 | Larry Gedney
Posted on 10/04/2004 10:31:59 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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