Is the Solar System Stable?

Presenter(s): Warwick Kissling

Affiliation(s): RASNZ

Session details: Sunday, 2020-04-12 04:00:00, STAR

Abstract

The question of whether the Solar System is stable (or not) was first hinted at by Isaac Newton, and since his time this problem has been tackled, to no avail, by some of the world’s most famous mathematicians. In the last few years, our ability to simulate motions of the planets in the solar system has reached a point where 5 billion year simulations are routinely possible. These have shown that in some cases the Solar System can indeed be unstable, but the exact details remain elusive. In this talk I will explain why people thought the Solar System might not be stable and describe the efforts over the years to show whether or not this is true.

Biography

I am an applied mathematician working for GNS Science in New Zealand on geothermal resources. I have also been an amateur astronomer since the age of about ten, and have a special interest in celestial mechanics.