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3 years ago in Astrophysics By Princy
Could a planet beyond Pluto influence a space ripple leading to galaxy collisions?
I've encountered fringe theories suggesting distant planets can cause "ripples" affecting galaxies. This seems to violate my understanding of scale and gravitational coupling. Could you clarify the orders-of-magnitude difference in mass and distance that make such an influence impossible according to established gravitational physics?
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By Vishal Answered 1 year ago
This is an excellent question about scale. The short answer is no, it's categorically impossible. Let's do a quick order-of-magnitude calculation. A planet's mass is roughly 10^25 kg. The dark matter halo of a small galaxy is around 10^40 kg That's 15 orders of magnitude (a quadrillion times) more massive. Gravity also weakens with the square of distance. A planet's gravitational reach is utterly negligible beyond its own solar system. The "ripples" from gravitational waves, which we detect from merging black holes, require masses millions of times that of our Sun accelerating at relativistic speeds. A planet simply cannot couple to dynamics on a million-light-year scale
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