[Political Junkie Too]

Perhaps this exploded planet was a gas giant, too, and all that is left is pieces of the rocky core. It's at the distance-from-the-sun junction where rocky planets and gas giants meet.

I think I heard somewhere that the total mass of the asteroid belt is only about 1/4th of a planet, debunking the "exploded planet" theory.

Another interesting theory is Bode's Law, that the orbital distances of the planets are roughly 4+3x2^n where n is the position in the sequence (divide by 10 to get Astronomical Units). Mercury (4)/10 = .4AU (36MM miles), Venus (4+3x2^0)/10 = .7AU (67MM), Earth (4+3x2^1)/10 = 1AU (93MM), Mars (4+3x2^2)/10 = 1.6AU (141MM), Ceres (4+3x2^3)/10 = 2.8AU, Jupiter (4+3x2^4)/10 = 5.2AU (483MM), Saturn (4+3x2^5)/10 = 10AU(886MM), Uranus (4+3x2^6)/10 = 19.6AU(1,783MM). The "law" breaks down after Uranus. The intersting thing is that the asteroid belt fits right where the next planet ought to be.

-PJ

[donh]

I think I heard somewhere that the total mass of the asteroid belt is only about 1/4th of a planet, debunking the "exploded planet" theory.

Since there's not much of a way to guess what size the planet in question originally was, or how it exploded, and therefore, how much of its mass would rightfully be expected to remain in a matching orbit, that seems like a rather doubtful datapoint to me.

[donh]

The intersting thing is that the asteroid belt fits right where the next planet ought to be.

You have to fudge a little to make Bode's law fit our solar system. Not much, but enough to leave room for doubt. Their are other possible explanations that haven't been exhausted yet.

[RightWhale]

the asteroid belt is only about 1/4th of a planet

That's right, there isn't enough mass in the Asteroid Belt. So the mystery continues.

[Old Professer]

I have an old Reader's Digest dictionary with a pictorial sufffix that clearly illustrates this; quite interesting.

[RadioAstronomer]

I think I heard somewhere that the total mass of the asteroid belt is only about 1/4th of a planet, debunking the "exploded planet" theory.

See my post # 238