* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Good Deed Entertainment Acquires Worldwide Rights To Liza Mandelup’s Documentary ‘Caterpillar’ – Deadline

    Good Deed Entertainment Lands Global Rights to Liza Mandelup’s Captivating Documentary ‘Caterpillar

    Danielle Fishel Explains Why Being on “DWTS” Makes Her Feel ‘Like It’s 1994 Again’ Filming “Boy Meets World” (Exclusive) – Yahoo

    Danielle Fishel Explains Why Being on “DWTS” Makes Her Feel ‘Like It’s 1994 Again’ Filming “Boy Meets World” (Exclusive) – Yahoo

    Jussie Smollett Claims He Was ‘Disrespected’ on the ‘Special Forces’ Season Premiere – Yahoo

    Jussie Smollett Opens Up About Feeling ‘Disrespected’ During the ‘Special Forces’ Season Premiere

    TicketSmarter Fall Entertainment Guide – Eastern Illinois University Athletics

    TicketSmarter Fall Entertainment Guide – Eastern Illinois University Athletics

    Cardi B Adds More Dates to Little Miss Drama Tour: ‘Y’all Making Me Work’ – Yahoo

    Cardi B Extends Little Miss Drama Tour: “Y’all Making Me Work

    ‘Today’: Sheinelle Jones Thanks Katie Couric for Support After Husband’s Death – CBS 19 News

    Sheinelle Jones Expresses Heartfelt Thanks to Katie Couric for Support After Husband’s Passing

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Four Strategic Signals Technology Leaders Are Tuning In To – SPONSOR CONTENT FROM ARM – Harvard Business Review

    Four Essential Strategic Signals Every Technology Leader Should Watch

    Virginia Tech hosts annual New Music + Technology Festival this week – Cardinal News

    Virginia Tech Kicks Off Exciting Annual New Music and Technology Festival This Week

    Why I gave the world wide web away for free | Tim Berners-Lee – The Guardian

    Why I Decided to Make the World Wide Web Free for Everyone | Tim Berners-Lee

    From shale to steam: Fossil fuel technology boosts clean geothermal energy – Washington Examiner

    From Shale to Steam: How Fossil Fuel Technology is Powering a Clean Geothermal Energy Revolution

    How Sustainable Technology is Shaping a Greener Future – Technology Magazine

    How Sustainable Technology is Driving the Revolution Toward a Greener Future

    Aurora police hope to add facial recognition technology to crime-fighting tools – CBS News

    Aurora Police Aim to Boost Crime-Fighting with New Facial Recognition Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Good Deed Entertainment Acquires Worldwide Rights To Liza Mandelup’s Documentary ‘Caterpillar’ – Deadline

    Good Deed Entertainment Lands Global Rights to Liza Mandelup’s Captivating Documentary ‘Caterpillar

    Danielle Fishel Explains Why Being on “DWTS” Makes Her Feel ‘Like It’s 1994 Again’ Filming “Boy Meets World” (Exclusive) – Yahoo

    Danielle Fishel Explains Why Being on “DWTS” Makes Her Feel ‘Like It’s 1994 Again’ Filming “Boy Meets World” (Exclusive) – Yahoo

    Jussie Smollett Claims He Was ‘Disrespected’ on the ‘Special Forces’ Season Premiere – Yahoo

    Jussie Smollett Opens Up About Feeling ‘Disrespected’ During the ‘Special Forces’ Season Premiere

    TicketSmarter Fall Entertainment Guide – Eastern Illinois University Athletics

    TicketSmarter Fall Entertainment Guide – Eastern Illinois University Athletics

    Cardi B Adds More Dates to Little Miss Drama Tour: ‘Y’all Making Me Work’ – Yahoo

    Cardi B Extends Little Miss Drama Tour: “Y’all Making Me Work

    ‘Today’: Sheinelle Jones Thanks Katie Couric for Support After Husband’s Death – CBS 19 News

    Sheinelle Jones Expresses Heartfelt Thanks to Katie Couric for Support After Husband’s Passing

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Four Strategic Signals Technology Leaders Are Tuning In To – SPONSOR CONTENT FROM ARM – Harvard Business Review

    Four Essential Strategic Signals Every Technology Leader Should Watch

    Virginia Tech hosts annual New Music + Technology Festival this week – Cardinal News

    Virginia Tech Kicks Off Exciting Annual New Music and Technology Festival This Week

    Why I gave the world wide web away for free | Tim Berners-Lee – The Guardian

    Why I Decided to Make the World Wide Web Free for Everyone | Tim Berners-Lee

    From shale to steam: Fossil fuel technology boosts clean geothermal energy – Washington Examiner

    From Shale to Steam: How Fossil Fuel Technology is Powering a Clean Geothermal Energy Revolution

    How Sustainable Technology is Shaping a Greener Future – Technology Magazine

    How Sustainable Technology is Driving the Revolution Toward a Greener Future

    Aurora police hope to add facial recognition technology to crime-fighting tools – CBS News

    Aurora Police Aim to Boost Crime-Fighting with New Facial Recognition Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

Orbital resonance: The striking gravitational dance done by planets with aligning orbits

February 4, 2024
in Science
Orbital resonance: The striking gravitational dance done by planets with aligning orbits
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Orbital resonance—the striking gravitational dance done by planets with aligning orbits

Planets can gravitationally affect each other when their orbits line up. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Planets orbit their parent stars while separated by enormous distances—in our solar system, planets are like grains of sand in a region the size of a football field. The time that planets take to orbit their suns have no specific relationship to each other.

But sometimes, their orbits display striking patterns. For example, astronomers studying six planets orbiting a star 100 light years away have just found that they orbit their star with an almost rhythmic beat, in perfect synchrony. Each pair of planets completes their orbits in times that are the ratios of whole numbers, allowing the planets to align and exert a gravitational push and pull on the other during their orbit.

This type of gravitational alignment is called orbital resonance, and it’s like a harmony between distant planets.

I’m an astronomer who studies and writes about cosmology. Researchers have discovered over 5,600 exoplanets in the past 30 years, and their extraordinary diversity continues to surprise astronomers.

Harmony of the spheres

Greek mathematician Pythagoras discovered the principles of musical harmony 2,500 years ago by analyzing the sounds of blacksmiths’ hammers and plucked strings.

He believed mathematics was at the heart of the natural world and proposed that the sun, moon and planets each emit unique hums based on their orbital properties. He thought this “music of the spheres” would be imperceptible to the human ear.

Orbital resonance, as seen with Jupiter’s moons, happens when planetary bodies’ orbits line up – for example, Io orbits Jupiter four times in the time it takes Europa to orbit twice and Ganymede to orbit once. Credit: WolfmanSF/Wikimedia Commons

Four hundred years ago, Johannes Kepler picked up this idea. He proposed that musical intervals and harmonies described the motions of the six known planets at the time.

To Kepler, the solar system had two basses, Jupiter and Saturn; a tenor, Mars; two altos, Venus and Earth; and a soprano, Mercury. These roles reflected how long it took each planet to orbit the sun, lower speeds for the outer planets and higher speeds for the inner planets.

He called the book he wrote on these mathematical relationships “The Harmony of the World.” While these ideas have some similarities to the concept of orbital resonance, planets don’t actually make sounds, since sound can’t travel through the vacuum of space.

Orbital resonance

Resonance happens when planets or moons have orbital periods that are ratios of whole numbers. The orbital period is the time taken for a planet to make one complete circuit of the star. So, for example, two planets orbiting a star would be in a 2:1 resonance when one planet takes twice as long as the other to orbit the star. Resonance is seen in only 5% of planetary systems.

In the solar system, Neptune and Pluto are in a 3:2 resonance. There’s also a triple resonance, 4:2:1, among Jupiter’s three moons: Ganymede, Europa and Io. In the time it takes Ganymede to orbit Jupiter, Europa orbits twice and Io orbits four times. Resonances occur naturally, when planets happen to have orbital periods that are the ratio of whole numbers.

Musical intervals describe the relationship between two musical notes. In the musical analogy, important musical intervals based on ratios of frequencies are the fourth, 4:3, the fifth, 3:2, and the octave, 2:1. Anyone who plays the guitar or the piano might recognize these intervals.

Musical intervals can be used to create scales and harmony.

Orbital resonances can change how gravity influences two bodies, causing them to speed up, slow down, stabilize on their orbital path and sometimes have their orbits disrupted.

Think of pushing a child on a swing. A planet and a swing both have a natural frequency. Give the child a push that matches the swing motion and they’ll get a boost. They’ll also get a boost if you push them every other time they’re in that position, or every third time. But push them at random times, sometimes with the motion of the swing and sometimes against, and they get no boost.

For planets, the boost can keep them continuing on their orbital paths, but it’s much more likely to disrupt their orbits.

Exoplanet resonance

Exoplanets, or planets outside the solar system, show striking examples of resonance, not just between two objects but also between resonant “chains” involving three or more objects.

Orbital resonance can cause planets or asteroids to speed up or start to wobble.

The star Gliese 876 has three planets with orbit period ratios of 4:2:1, just like Jupiter’s three moons. Kepler 223 has four planets with ratios of 8:6:4:3.

The red dwarf Kepler 80 has five planets with ratios of 9:6:4:3:2, and TOI 178 has six planets, of which five are in a resonant chain with ratios of 18:9:6:4:3.

TRAPPIST-1 is the record holder. It has seven Earth-like planets, two of which might be habitable, with orbit ratios of 24:15:9:6:4:3:2.

The newest example of a resonant chain is the HD 110067 system. It’s about 100 light years away and has six sub-Neptune planets, a common type of exoplanet, with orbit ratios of 54:36:24:16:12:9. The discovery is interesting because most resonance chains are unstable and disappear over time.

Despite these examples, resonant chains are rare, and only 1% of all planetary systems display them. Astronomers think that planets form in resonance, but small gravitational nudges from passing stars and wandering planets erase the resonance over time. With HD 110067, the resonant chain has survived for billions of years, offering a rare and pristine view of the system as it was when it formed.

Orbit sonification

Music from planetary orbits, created by astronomers at the European Southern Observatory.

Astronomers use a technique called sonification to translate complex visual data into sound. It gives people a different way to appreciate the beautiful images from the Hubble Space Telescope, and it has been applied to X-ray data and gravitational waves.

With exoplanets, sonification can convey the mathematical relationships of their orbits. Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory created what they call “music of the spheres” for the TOI 178 system by associating a sound on a pentatonic scale to each of the five planets.

A similar musical translation has been done for the TRAPPIST-1 system, with the orbital frequencies scaled up by a factor of 212 million to bring them into audible range.

Astronomers have also created a sonification for the HD 110067 system. People may not agree on whether these renditions sound like actual music, but it’s inspiring to see Pythagoras’ ideas realized after 2,500 years.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.The Conversation

Citation:
Orbital resonance: The striking gravitational dance done by planets with aligning orbits (2024, February 3)
retrieved 3 February 2024
from https://phys.org/news/2024-02-orbital-resonance-gravitational-planets-aligning.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Phys.org – https://phys.org/news/2024-02-orbital-resonance-gravitational-planets-aligning.html

Tags: Orbitalresonancescience
Previous Post

Gladiators rich list: The show’s top earners including host Bradley Walsh

Next Post

Governments spend US$22 billion a year helping the fishing industry empty our oceans. This injustice must end

Elon Musk hit by exodus of senior staff over burnout and politics – Financial Times

Elon Musk Confronts Surge of Senior Staff Exits Amid Burnout and Office Politics

September 30, 2025
Common juniper, the oldest nonclonal woody species across the tundra biome and the European continent – ESA Journals

Unveiling the Common Juniper: The Ancient Woody Survivor Spanning Tundra and Europe

September 30, 2025
What Forensic Science Is and How to Become a Forensic Scientist | Education | U.S. News – U.S. News & World Report

Unlocking the Secrets of Forensic Science: Your Guide to Becoming a Forensic Scientist

September 30, 2025
BLM celebrates International Archaeology Day at the Campbell Creek Science Center – Bureau of Land Management (.gov)

BLM Celebrates International Archaeology Day with Exciting Events at Campbell Creek Science Center

September 30, 2025
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope Today (Nov 22- Dec 21), September 30, 2025: Lifestyle will get refined! – India Today

Sagittarius Daily Horoscope Today (Nov 22- Dec 21), September 30, 2025: Lifestyle will get refined! – India Today

September 30, 2025
Four Strategic Signals Technology Leaders Are Tuning In To – SPONSOR CONTENT FROM ARM – Harvard Business Review

Four Essential Strategic Signals Every Technology Leader Should Watch

September 30, 2025

Latest sportsbook receives Missouri license through partnership with Royals – KCTV

September 30, 2025
World-Building With Daisies – 032C

Bringing Color to Life: The Art of Building Vibrant Worlds with Daisies

September 29, 2025
Milei Vowed to Fix Argentina’s Economy. Then Came a New Crisis. – The New York Times

Milei Vowed to Fix Argentina’s Economy. Then Came a New Crisis. – The New York Times

September 29, 2025
Good Deed Entertainment Acquires Worldwide Rights To Liza Mandelup’s Documentary ‘Caterpillar’ – Deadline

Good Deed Entertainment Lands Global Rights to Liza Mandelup’s Captivating Documentary ‘Caterpillar

September 29, 2025

Categories

Archives

September 2025
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930  
« Aug    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (843)
  • Economy (864)
  • Entertainment (21,738)
  • General (17,322)
  • Health (9,908)
  • Lifestyle (877)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (866)
  • Politics (875)
  • Science (16,074)
  • Sports (21,364)
  • Technology (15,847)
  • World (846)

Recent News

Elon Musk hit by exodus of senior staff over burnout and politics – Financial Times

Elon Musk Confronts Surge of Senior Staff Exits Amid Burnout and Office Politics

September 30, 2025
Common juniper, the oldest nonclonal woody species across the tundra biome and the European continent – ESA Journals

Unveiling the Common Juniper: The Ancient Woody Survivor Spanning Tundra and Europe

September 30, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version