{"id":62740,"date":"2025-08-12T14:31:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T14:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/62740\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T14:31:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T14:31:08","slug":"scientists-discover-that-our-solar-systems-biggest-planet-was-once-much-larger-playing-a-huge-part-in-the-creation-of-other-planets-twistedsifter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/62740\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Discover That Our Solar System\u2019s Biggest Planet Was Once Much Larger, Playing A Huge Part In The Creation Of Other Planets \u00bb TwistedSifter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

Kevin M. Gill\/NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/MSSS<\/p>\n

With a diameter of 88,846 miles at its equator, Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s eleven times larger than Earth, so big in fact that its gravitational forces are thought to be instrumental to the formation of our solar system, both pressurising gas and dust particles to form planets, and dictating the orbital paths they followed too.<\/p>\n

Astoundingly, according to researchers from Caltech and the University of Michigan, Jupiter used to be a whole lot bigger.<\/p>\n

Their study, which was published<\/a> recently in the journal\u00a0Nature Astronomy, gives further insight into the still somewhat mysterious origins of our solar system.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/MSSS\/Prateek Sarpal<\/p>\n

When studying two of Jupiter\u2019s small moons \u2013 Amalthea and Thebe \u2013 the researchers made an important calculation that would shape their research and our understanding of the origins of our planets.<\/p>\n

Quite significantly, the two moons have tilted orbits. Through their observations and calculations of these orbits, the researchers \u2013 Caltech\u2019s Professor Konstantin Batygin and the University of Michigan\u2019s Professor Fred C. Adams \u2013 noted their trajectories, which would only be so if Jupiter was once much bigger.<\/p>\n

In fact, their study led them to the conclusion that Jupiter once had a magnetic field of fifty times the already strong field it has today, with the unusual orbits shaped by that early magnetic pull.<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s more is the fact that that powerful magnetic field came from a planet that was around two times larger than it is today.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

NASA\/ESA\/J. Nichols<\/p>\n

While fascinating, this new data also helps scientists in their quest to understand where life, the solar system, and everything we know truly began. Given that Jupiter is thought to have played a huge part in the formation our our star system, understanding its previous size and magnetic field is pivotal, as Batygin explained in a statement<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve established here is a valuable benchmark, a point from which we can more confidently reconstruct the evolution of our solar system. Our ultimate goal is to understand where we come from, and pinning down the early phases of planet formation is essential to solving the puzzle. This brings us closer to understanding how not only Jupiter but the entire solar system took shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we continue to explore our solar system, and the vast depths of space that lie beyond it, further insight into how our star system looked billions of years ago is another vital piece in the puzzle toward overall understanding.<\/p>\n

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun\u2019s surface. Here\u2019s what it means.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\tCategories: NATURE\/SPACE<\/a>, SCI\/TECH<\/a>\t\t
Tags: \u00b7 amalthea<\/a>, gas giant<\/a>, gravitational pull<\/a>, gravity<\/a>, jupiter<\/a>, magnetic field<\/a>, orbit<\/a>, origins of life<\/a>, origins of the universe<\/a>, science<\/a>, single topic<\/a>, solar system<\/a>, space<\/a>, space exploration<\/a>, thebe<\/a>, top<\/a>\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin M. Gill\/NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/MSSS With a diameter of 88,846 miles at its equator, Jupiter is the biggest planet in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[50460,64,63,50461,50462,3189,17264,130,17709,50463,50464,128,7969,291,285,327,50465,4048],"class_list":["post-62740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-amalthea","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-gas-giant","tag-gravitational-pull","tag-gravity","tag-jupiter","tag-magnetic-field","tag-orbit","tag-origins-of-life","tag-origins-of-the-universe","tag-science","tag-single-topic","tag-solar-system","tag-space","tag-space-exploration","tag-thebe","tag-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}