3.8 billion years ago, the planets of the solar system experienced the period known as ‘intense late bombardment’: the reconstruction is astonishing
Have you ever wondered what ours was like solar system in the past? Were the planets as they are today or did they look completely different? In this video, we will travel back in time to discover what the planets looked like 3.8 billion years ago. At the time, the solar system was experiencing a period known as “late intense bombardment.” This period took place between 4.1 and 3.8 billion years ago. During this time, relatively short within the cosmic scale, there were a large number of asteroid impacts with planets and objects in the inner Solar System.
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The solar system
The pivot of the Solar System is the Sun, a medium star, which with its enormous gravitational force holds the planets and billions of small celestial bodies, generally called minor bodies. The Sun is the star closest to us and the one that allows, through its great energy, the existence of life on Earth. The light emanating from the Sun every second is equal to that of 3 million billion billion 100 watt light bulbs each and is responsible for all phenomena observed in the atmospheres of planets. From the lethal sulfuric acid clouds of Venus, to the life-giving terrestrial clouds, to the powerful cyclones of Jupiter and Saturn and the very strong winds of Neptune’s atmosphere. The Sun is life itself for the Solar system. The comparison with the planets is merciless. Even compared to Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, 11 times the diameter of the Earth, the Sun continues to be over 10 times larger and 1000 times more massive. In fact, the Sun contains about 99% of the mass of the entire Solar System, giving it only to the other inhabitants the crumbs of the material from which it was formed.
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Cover image credit Tobias Stierli / NCCR PlanetS
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