Homework 2 Question 3 (William Matzko)
I
inserted an extra planet of 0.01 Solar masses at (-1.9, 1.9, 1.9) AU with
velocity (1E-08, 1.2E-03, 1.8E-08) Au/day (for some reason it started my planet
out at 1.65 AU instead of ~3.3 AU). This caused the most change in the inner
planets. Mercury became unbound (e>1) about 1800 years in. Venus went out to
~5 AU about 2000 years in and was on the verge of becoming unbound. Earth went
out to ~ 10 AU about 1500 years in and became unbound. Mars experience a
relatively small change in semimajor axis; it slowly went inwards to 1 AU and
started to go back out. Its eccentricity experienced severe oscillations, but
it did not become unbound. It also experienced large oscillations in its
inclination. Jupiter was the only outer planet that was significantly disturbed
enough to bother mentioning. Its semimajor axis was relatively constant around
5 AU, but its eccentricity and inclination sharply increased and began to level
off. An image of all 15 relevant plots is attached. The graphs of my planet are
also attached separately. All other unmentioned planets were not significantly
affected—their a, e, and i were relatively unchanged. My planet was at ~1.66 AU
for much of the simulation, but went out to ~1.68 about 2300 years in. Its
eccentricity is incredibly high (~0.99) for the duration of the simulation. Its inclination
started out high, about 135 degrees, but it was down to 40 degrees by the end.


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