Jupiter was once twice as big - would have held 2,000 Earths

🔬 It is estimated that just 3.8 million years after the first solid bodies appeared in the solar system, Jupiter was a giant with a radius nearly twice the size of the present one. Back then, it could have contained more than 2000 Earths (about 1320 now).

💡 The study was conducted by Konstantin Batygin, a professor of planetology at the California Institute of Technology. Instead of the usual planet formation models, his team focused on the orbits of two little-known satellites of Jupiter - Amalthea and Thebes. These satellites move in slightly inclined orbits that are assumed to have remained unchanged since the formation of the system.

📊 By analyzing these inclinations, scientists have "rolled back time" and calculated the size and magnetic field of Jupiter in its younger years. This helps to further understand how not only the largest planet, but also the entire solar system was formed.

"This is a valuable reference point - a point from which we can more confidently reconstruct the evolution of our planetary system," Batygin says.

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