Neptune's bumpy childhood could reveal our solar system's mi

Neptune’s bumpy childhood could reveal our solar system’s missing planets
Charlie Wood
© Provided by Popular Science
This image was taken by Voyager 2, and features its Great Dark Spot and a bright moving spot colloquially called Scooter.
The modern solar system spins serenely, the planets locked in seemingly eternal circles around the sun. But it wasn’t always so. This tranquility appears to have emerged only after a gladiatorial period of planetary clashes—one in which titans ricocheted off each other, perhaps ejecting at least one rival sibling from the cosmic arena altogether.
Researchers have spent years scouring the solar system for clues of how that comparatively chaotic epoch might have played out. In a modest cluster of far-off rocks, David Nesvorny, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, has found a figurative blood spatter suggestive of one particular conflict: a tussle between Neptune and an unknown planet that saw Neptune emerge victorious. His analysis, which appeared in late December in a not-yet-peer reviewed publication, adds further support to the notion that the solar system was once home to more than its current cadre of worlds.

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