View source for 57:6 The Solar System Stage—The Planet-Forming Era

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57:6.1 Subsequent to the [[birth]] of the [[solar system]] a period of diminishing [[solar]] disgorgement ensued. Decreasingly, for another five hundred thousand years, the [[sun]] continued to pour forth diminishing volumes of [[matter]] into [[surrounding]] [[space]]. But during these early times of erratic [[orbits]], when the [[surrounding]] bodies made their nearest approach to the [[sun]], the solar parent was able to recapture a large portion of this [[meteoric]] [[material]].

57:6.2 The [[planets]] nearest the [[sun]] were the first to have their [[revolutions]] slowed down by [[tidal]] [[friction]]. Such [[gravitational]] [[influences]] also [[contribute]] to the [[stabilization]] of [[planetary]] [[orbits]] while [[acting]] as a brake on the [[rate]] of planetary-[[axial]] [[revolution]], causing a [[planet]] to revolve ever slower until axial revolution ceases, leaving one hemisphere of the [[planet]] always turned toward the [[sun]] or larger body, as is [[illustrated]] by the [[planet]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet) Mercury] and by the [[moon]], which always turns the same face toward [[Urantia]].

57:6.3 When the [[tidal]] [[frictions]] of the [[moon]] and the [[earth]] become [[equalized]], the [[earth]] will always turn the same hemisphere toward the [[moon]], and the day and month will be [[analogous]]—in length about forty-seven days. When such [[stability]] of [[orbits]] is [[attained]], [[tidal]] [[frictions]] will go into reverse [[action]], no longer driving the [[moon]] farther away from the [[earth]] but [[gradually]] drawing the [[satellite]] toward the [[planet]]. And then, in that far-distant [[future]] when the [[moon]] approaches to within about eleven thousand miles of the [[earth]], the [[gravity]] [[action]] of the latter will cause the moon to disrupt, and this [[tidal]]-[[gravity]] [[explosion]] will shatter the [[moon]] into small [[particles]], which may assemble about the world as rings of [[matter]] resembling those of [https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn Saturn] or may be [[gradually]] drawn into the [[earth]] as [[meteors]].

57:6.4 If space bodies are similar in size and [[density]], collisions may occur. But if two space bodies of similar [[density]] are [[relatively]] unequal in size, then, if the smaller [[progressively]] approaches the larger, the [[disruption]] of the smaller body will occur when the [[radius]] of its [[orbit]] becomes less than two and one-half times the [[radius]] of the larger body. Collisions among the giants of space are rare indeed, but these [[gravity]]-[[tidal]] [[explosions]] of lesser bodies are quite common.

57:6.5 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_shower Shooting stars] occur in swarms because they are the [[fragments]] of larger bodies of [[matter]] which have been [[disrupted]] by [[tidal]] [[gravity]] exerted by near-by and still larger space bodies. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn Saturn's] rings are the [[fragments]] of a [[disrupted]] [[satellite]]. One of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter#Moons moons of Jupiter] is now approaching [[dangerously]] near the critical zone of [[tidal]] [[disruption]] and, within a few million years, will either be claimed by the [[planet]] or will undergo [[gravity]]-[[tidal]] [[disruption]]. The fifth planet of the [[solar system]] of long, long ago traversed an irregular [[orbit]], [[periodically]] making closer and closer approach to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter Jupiter] until it entered the critical zone of gravity-tidal disruption, was swiftly [[fragmentized]], and became the present-day cluster of [[asteroids]].

57:6.6 4,000,000,000 years ago [[witnessed]] the [[organization]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter Jupiter] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn Saturn] systems much as [[observed]] today except for their moons, which continued to increase in size for several billions of years. In [[fact]], all of the [[planets]] and [[satellites]] of the [[solar system]] are still growing as the result of continued [[meteoric]] captures.

57:6.7 3,500,000,000 years ago the [[condensation]] [[nucleus]]es of the other ten [[planets]] were well formed, and the cores of most of the moons were intact, though some of the smaller [[satellites]] later united to make the present-day larger moons. This age may be regarded as the era of [[planet]]ary assembly.

57:6.8 3,000,000,000 years ago the [[solar system]] was [[functioning]] much as it does today. Its members continued to [[grow]] in size as [[space]] [[meteors]] continued to pour in upon the [[planets]] and their [[satellites]] at a prodigious rate.

57:6.9 About this time your [[solar system]] was placed on the [[physical]] registry of [[Nebadon]] and given its [[name]], ''Monmatia''.

57:6.10 2,500,000,000 years ago the [[planets]] had grown immensely in size. [[Urantia]] was a well-[[developed]] [[sphere]] about one tenth its present [[mass]] and was still growing rapidly by [[meteoric]] [[accretion]].

57:6.11 All of this tremendous [[activity]] is a [[normal]] part of the making of an [[evolutionary world]] on the order of [[Urantia]] and [[constitutes]] the [[astronomic]] preliminaries to the setting of the [[stage]] for the beginning of the [[physical]] [[evolution]] of such worlds of [[space]] in [[preparation]] for the life [[adventures]] of [[time]].

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[[Category:Paper 57 - The Origin of Urantia]]
[[Category: Origin]]
[[Category: Urantia]]
[[Category: Evolution]]
[[Category: Astronomy/TeaM]]
[[Category: Cosmology/TeaM]]