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Published online 25 May 2005 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news050523-6
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Planetary billiards answer Solar System riddle
Scattering rocks moved planets and battered the Moon.
Why does the Solar System look like it does? The question has teased astronomers for centuries, but researchers have now come up with a single theory that they hope can explain three of the most mysterious features of our corner of the Universe.
The giant planets Jupiter and Saturn have unusually elliptical orbits that are significantly tilted out of the plane occupied by the smaller, rocky planets close to the Sun.
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