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Old 01-March-2008, 09:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rekisha View Post
If all the planets align wouldn't the gravitational field of the larger planets 'pull' in the the smaller planets...
Right so far. In fact Jupiter alone changes the orbits of the other planets a little bit with its pull. The Earth aligns with Jupiter every 13 years or so. It aligns with all of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn every (roughly) century and a half. This pull is the majority of why the the planets' perihelia move.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rekisha View Post
...close to them into their gravitational field resulting in the planets colliding with one another?
No, this part is wrong. These alignments happen very frequently, and no such collision has occurred, or even come close to occurring in billions of years.
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