Pondering the Planets by Vivien Teasdale
Have you ever wondered, as you look up at the night sky, just what would happen if there were no more planets? Don’t worry. Well, not at first, anyway, because there’d be little effect. The Sun holds us in place, so we could continue jaunting round and round in orbit for a few more million years. But we would miss the brightness above us – no more Venus, the morning and evening star; no Mars, no Saturn or any other planet/star that we can recognise. Eventually though, we’d have more space rocks being thrown at us and potentially hitting their target. Jupiter is the one which usually deals with that danger and throws them into touch. It is also the other planets which help to keep us in place, so Earth’s orbit might change and/or the axial tilt might change, with possible catastrophic results. Aren’t you glad you won’t be there to see it? But we have already lost one planet and who knows when another might, arbitrarily, be transformed? Remember Pluto? No, not that yellow-coa...
