TitiusBode law

1
TitiusBode law
Solar System diagram showing planetary spacing in whole numbers, when the
Sun-Neptune distance is normalized to 100. The numbers listed are distinct from the Bode
sequence, but can give an appreciation for the harmonic resonances that are generated by
the gravitational "pumping" action of the gas giants.
The TitiusBode law (sometimes
termed just Bode's law) is a hypothesis
that the bodies in some orbital systems,
including the Sun's, orbit at semi-major
axes in a function of planetary
sequence. The hypothesis correctly
predicted the orbits of Ceres and
Uranus, but failed as a predictor of
Neptune's orbit. It is named for Johann
Daniel Titius and Johann Elert Bode.
Formulation
The law relates the semi-major axis
of each planet outward from the Sun in
units such that the Earth's semi-major
axis is equal to 10:
where
with the exception of the first step,
each value is twice the previous value. There is another representation of the formula:
where . The resulting values can be divided by 10 to convert them into astronomical units
(AU), resulting in the expression
for For the outer planets, each planet is predicted to be roughly twice as far from the Sun as
the previous object.
History
Johann Daniel Titius
The first mention of a series approximating Bode's Law is found in
David Gregory's The Elements of Astronomy, published in 1715. In
it, he says, "...supposing the distance of the Earth from the Sun to
be divided into ten equal Parts, of these the distance of Mercury
will be about four, of Venus seven, of Mars fifteen, of Jupiter fifty
two, and that of Saturn ninety six." A similar sentence, likely
paraphrased from Gregory, appears in a work published by
Christian Wolff in 1724.
In 1764, Charles Bonnet said in his Contemplation de la Nature
that, "We know seventeen planets that enter into the composition
of our solar system [that is, major planets and their satellites]; but
we are not sure that there are no more." To this, in his 1766
TitiusBode law
2
Johann Elert Bode
translation of Bonnet's work, Johann Daniel Titius added the
following unattributed addition, removed to a footnote in later
editions:
Take notice of the distances of the planets from one
another, and recognize that almost all are separated
from one another in a proportion which matches their
bodily magnitudes. Divide the distance from the Sun
to Saturn into 100 parts; then Mercury is separated by
four such parts from the Sun, Venus by 4+3=7 such
parts, the Earth by 4+6=10, Mars by 4+12=16. But
notice that from Mars to Jupiter there comes a
deviation from this so exact progression. From Mars
there follows a space of 4+24=28 such parts, but so
far no planet was sighted there. But should the Lord
Architect have left that space empty? Not at all. Let us
therefore assume that this space without doubt
belongs to the still undiscovered satellites of Mars, let
us also add that perhaps Jupiter still has around itself
some smaller ones which have not been sighted yet by any telescope. Next to this for us still unexplored
space there rises Jupiter's sphere of influence at 4+48=52 parts; and that of Saturn at 4+96=100 parts.
In 1772, Johann Elert Bode, aged only twenty-five, completed the second edition of his astronomical compendium
Anleitung zur Kenntniss des gestirnten Himmels, into which he added the following footnote, initially unsourced, but
credited to Titius in later versions:
This latter point seems in particular to follow from the astonishing relation which the known six planets
observe in their distances from the Sun. Let the distance from the Sun to Saturn be taken as 100, then
Mercury is separated by 4 such parts from the Sun. Venus is 4+3=7. The Earth 4+6=10. Mars 4+12=16.
Now comes a gap in this so orderly progression. After Mars there follows a space of 4+24=28 parts, in
which no planet has yet been seen. Can one believe that the Founder of the universe had left this space
empty? Certainly not. From here we come to the distance of Jupiter by 4+48=52 parts, and finally to that
of Saturn by 4+96=100 parts.
When originally published, the law was approximately satisfied by all the known planets Mercury through Saturn
with a gap between the fourth and fifth planets. It was regarded as interesting, but of no great importance until the
discovery of Uranus in 1781 which happens to fit neatly into the series. Based on this discovery, Bode urged a search
for a fifth planet. Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, was found at Bode's predicted position in 1801. Bode's
law was then widely accepted until Neptune was discovered in 1846 and found not to satisfy Bode's law.
Simultaneously, the large number of known asteroids in the belt resulted in Ceres no longer being considered a
planet at that time. Bode's law was discussed as an example of fallacious reasoning by the astronomer and logician
Charles Sanders Peirce in 1898.
[1]
The discovery of Pluto in 1930 confounded the issue still further. While nowhere near its position as predicted by
Bode's law, it was roughly at the position the law had predicted for Neptune. However, the subsequent discovery of
the Kuiper belt, and in particular of the object Eris, which is larger than Pluto yet does not fit Bode's law, have
further discredited the formula.
TitiusBode law
3
Data
Here are the distances of planets in the Solar System, calculated from the rule and compared with the real ones:
Graphical plot using data from table to the left
Planet k T-B rule distance (AU) Real distance (AU) % error (using real distance as the accepted value)
Mercury 0 0.4 0.39 2.56%
Venus 1 0.7 0.72 2.78%
Earth 2 1.0 1.00 0.00%
Mars 4 1.6 1.52 5.26%
Ceres
1 8 2.8 2.77 1.08%
Jupiter 16 5.2 5.20 0.00%
Saturn 32 10.0 9.54 4.82%
Uranus 64 19.6 19.2 2.08%
Neptune 128 38.8 30.06 29.08%
Pluto
2 256
77.2
2 39.44 95.75%
1
Ceres was considered a small planet from 1801 until the 1860s. Pluto was considered a planet from 1930 to 2006. Both are now classified as
dwarf planets.
2
While the difference between the T-B rule distance and real distance seems very large here, if Neptune is 'skipped,' the T-B rule's distance of
38.8 is quite close to Pluto's real distance with an error of only 1.62%.
TitiusBode law
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Theoretical explanations
There is no solid theoretical explanation of the TitiusBode law, but if there is one it is possibly a combination of
orbital resonance and shortage of degrees of freedom: any stable planetary system has a high probability of satisfying
a TitiusBode-type relationship. Since it may simply be a mathematical coincidence rather than a "law of nature", it
is sometimes referred to as a rule instead of "law". However, astrophysicist Alan Boss states that it is just a
coincidence, and the planetary science journal Icarus no longer accepts papers attempting to provide improved
versions of the law.
Orbital resonance from major orbiting bodies creates regions around the Sun that are free of long-term stable orbits.
Results from simulations of planetary formation support the idea that a randomly chosen stable planetary system will
likely satisfy a TitiusBode law.
Dubrulle and Graner have shown that power-law distance rules can be a consequence of collapsing-cloud models of
planetary systems possessing two symmetries: rotational invariance (the cloud and its contents are axially
symmetric) and scale invariance (the cloud and its contents look the same on all scales), the latter being a feature of
many phenomena considered to play a role in planetary formation, such as turbulence.
Lunar systems and other planetary systems
There is a decidedly limited number of systems on which Bode's law can presently be tested. Two of the solar
planets have a number of big moons that appear possibly to have been created by a process similar to that which
created the planets themselves. The four big satellites of Jupiter and the biggest inner satellite, Amalthea, cling to a
regular, but non-Bode, spacing with the four innermost locked into orbital periods that are each twice that of the next
inner satellite. The big moons of Uranus have a regular, but non-Bode, spacing. However, according to Martin
Harwit, "a slight new phrasing of this law permits us to include not only planetary orbits around the Sun, but also the
orbits of moons around their parent planets."
[2]
The new phrasing is known as Dermott's law.
Of the recent discoveries of extrasolar planetary systems, few have enough known planets to test whether similar
rules apply to other planetary systems. An attempt with 55 Cancri suggested the equation a = 0.0142 e
0.9975 n
, and
predicts for n = 5 an undiscovered planet or asteroid field at 2 AU. This is controversial. Furthermore the orbital
period and semimajor axis of the innermost planet in the 55 Cancri system have been significantly revised (from
2.817 days to 0.737 days and from 0.038 AU to 0.016 AU respectively) since the publication of these studies.
Recent astronomical research suggests that planetary systems around some other stars may fit TitiusBode-like
laws.
[3][4]
Bovaird and Lineweaver applied a generalized Titius-Bode relation to 68 exoplanet systems which contain
four or more planets. They showed that 96% of these exoplanet systems adhere to a generalized Titius-Bode relation
to a similar or greater extent than the Solar System does. The locations of potentially undetected exoplanets are
predicted in each system.
Subsequent research managed to detect five planet candidates from predicted 97 planets from the 68 planetary
systems. The study showed that the actual number of planets could be larger. The occurrence rate of Mars and
Mercury sized planets are currently unknown so many planets could be missed due to their small size. Other reasons
were accounted to planet not transiting the star or the predicted space being occupied by circumstellar disks. Despite
this, the number of planets found with Titius-Bode law predictions were still lower than expected.
[5]
TitiusBode law
5
References
[1] [1] Pages 194-196 in
Peirce, Charles Sanders, Reasoning and the Logic of Things, The Cambridge Conference Lectures of 1898, Kenneth Laine Ketner, ed.,
intro., and Hilary Putnam, intro., commentary, Harvard, 1992, 312 pages, hardcover (ISBN 978-0674749665, ISBN 0-674-74966-9),
softcover (ISBN 978-0-674-74967-2, ISBN 0-674-74967-7) HUP catalog page (http:/ / www. hup. harvard. edu/ catalog/ PEIREX. html).
[2] Harwit, Martin. Astrophysical Concepts (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=trAAgqWZVlkC& pg=PA614& dq="origin+ of+
commensurabilities+ in+ the+ solar+ system"#PPA27,M1) (Springer 1998), pages 27-29.
[3] [3] Section 8.2: "Extrasolar Titius-Bode-like laws?"
[4] [4] P. Lara, A. Poveda, and C. Allen. On the structural law of exoplanetary systems. AIP Conf. Proc. 1479, 2356 (2012); doi: 10.1063/1.4756667
[5] http:/ / arxiv.org/ abs/ 1405. 2259
Further reading
The ghostly hand that spaced the planets (http:/ / www. newscientist. com/ article/ mg14219202.
300-science-the-ghostly-hand-that-spaced-the-planets-. html) New Scientist 9 April 1994, p13
Plants and Planets: The Law of Titius-Bode explained (http:/ / home. kpn. nl/ oudfit/ pp/ ) by H.J.R. Perdijk
Article Sources and Contributors
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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
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Image:Johann Daniel Titius.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Johann_Daniel_Titius.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: JuTa, Lotse, Pufacz
Image:Johann Elert Bode .jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Johann_Elert_Bode_.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Jonund, Stas1995, Stodieck
Image:Titus-Bode law.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Titus-Bode_law.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors:
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