Abstract
BODE'S law, which states that the semi-major axis ri of the ith planet from the Sun is given by 
where a is a constant, is obeyed by the inner satellites of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus as well as the planets1. Because the initial conditions in these satellite systems are not likely to have been the same as in the planetary system, this suggests to me that Bode's law may have resulted from a process of dynamical relaxation. That an epoch characterized by strong dynamical encounters occurred before the planets relaxed into stable orbits is also suggested by the surprisingly large differences between the inclinations of their angular momentum vectors of rotation and those of orbital revolution.
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HILLS, J. Dynamic Relaxation of Planetary Systems and Bode's Law. Nature 225, 840–842 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/225840a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/225840a0
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