Astronomers Answer When Will Pluto Collide With Neptune

Pluto's weird orbit was one of the main reasons why it got demoted to the status of a dwarf planet. Three things about its orbit make it an oddball among the planets: Firstly, it's highly inclined to the ecliptic. Pluto's inclination to the ecliptic is 17º, way more than any planet in the solar system. Secondly, the orbit is highly elliptical. And finally, it takes Pluto a whopping 248 Earth years to complete one revolution around the Sun.

Pluto also crosses Neptune's orbit, and astronomers have long wondered why don't the two celestial bodies collide? Some simulations predict that Pluto should have collided with Neptune or escaped the solar system. So what's keeping Pluto stable in its technically chaotic orbit?

The 13th episode of the Sunday Discovery Series answers these questions.

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Created By: Rishabh Nakra and Simran Buttar
Narrated By: Jeffrey Smith

The Secrets of the Universe on the internet:

[strikeone]

Can we all appreciate what a Chad big brother Jupiter is? He takes all the hits from meteors heading our way AND on top of that protects and keeps Pluto with us despite Uranus bullying its orbit.

And as always the Sun is just minding its own business paying no attention to it's children.

[camillecochran]

Pluto is a planet in our hearts right guys?

[NieR.Amanda]

Just another reminder of how chaotic the solar system must have been during its long history. Uranus spins on its wildly tilted axis, and Saturn has its retrograde moon, Phoebe, and Neptune has Triton which also orbits the opposite way round. Things must have been really crazy until gravity pulled everything into some kind of order. My personal theory is that we may have lost a planet or two entirely as they were ejected out of the solar system, leading to these anomalies.

[Hubblee]

It feels like Pluto is being abused :)

[almightyegg]

Mercury: The short one
Venus: The hot one
Earth: The lively one
Mars: The chill one
Jupiter: The nice one
Saturn: The cool one
Neptune: The boring one
Uranus: The weird one
Pluto: The bullied one
The Sun: The landlord

Tell me a sitcom about our solar system wouldn't be a hit

[wstavis]

There is a flaw in your assumption of Pluto's orbit. We have no way of knowing how long the orbit has been, or even of it truly is, stable. The oddity of it definitely seems to indicate something has perturbed it's orbit in the past, and may do so again, OR it was captured by the sun and system's gravity. Also, because we now believe that the planets may have migrated to their current positions, it may be a more recent perturbation than 5 billion years. The absolute vastness of the time scales is the problem when attempting certainty on this and other theories.

[David-gkml]

1:36 All of the planets orbit in the same direction! Venus rotates backwards/upside down, it doesn't orbit backwards.

[keldonmcfarland]

It's not a "demotion"! It's a reclassification. If anything it makes Tombaugh's discovery even greater. He discovered a new class of solar system objects.

[AChandle]

I remember watching another video, where the guy explained that as one body orbits another, as the orbiting body comes up to the zenith of orbit, it's being pulled by the main body, increasing speed, and then as it heads out, the orbiting body pulls on the main body, slowing it down.
If anyone's curious, look up resonance, or 'why do metronomes synch up'.

[NiagaraFE]

Very interesting. Thank you for putting these together for us.

[anglosaxon]

The planets weren't always in the order they are in now. Some say, Jupiter was much nearer to the Sun in the earlier stages of the Solar System and could have kicked out one or two "Giant Earth" sized planets before migrating to it's present position.

[GururajBN]

We seem to know more about the galaxies and galactic clusters than about the periphery of solar system and its immediate vicinity. Please make more such videos.

[frankkolmann]

Nicely done. I have long wondered how the orbits of the solar system planets remain as stable as they presently are. Thank you.

[ramachandra]

Great information as always thanks . Clear and concise explanation of the azimuthal and latitude libration and the effect of Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter and Saturn on Pluto's weird but stable orbit .

[sjwilson]

If Pluto hasn’t collided with Neptune yet, I doubt it ever will

[jayalltheway]

“You heard what happened to Pluto? …messed up right?” Burton Guster

[Drakin]

"Most likely Never. It's stable thanks to the other planets."
That's more or less the answer and save anyone watching 8 minutes.

[m.a.p.g.]

Thank you. I’m camping and needed some brain food. This fit the void for the next few days.

Interesting points about Pluto’s orbit.

[yourgirlniki]

I’m a little sensitive when it comes to Pluto.As if demoting the ninth planet of our solar system to a dwarf planet wasn’t enough these scientists are out to classify it as a rogue planet 😭 I mean although that’s not the case but somehow that’s what is being implied here, no?

[Murph_.]

Would love to understand how Jupiter and Saturn affect Earth and our moon.