| "Disastrous" has no meaning quite like the might-have-been-planet in Bode-Titius-order-radius solar orbit between Mars and Jupiter: a junkyard of 'disasteroid' rubble Cerinos [1] |
The planets formed as twins, of quadruplets in resonance co-orbiting within the early solar system gas-and-dust nebula, and thence separated and reordered among themselves, one more inward, one more outward, individuating further in collisions with cometary debris flinging about the early solar system, and eventually clearing their orbit-spaces and settling-in with a few moons and shepherded asteroids...
But both Mars and Astrus, in their respective Bode-Titius-ordered-radius orbits, are tiny fractions of a rocky-planet mass--Mars is 1/9th of Earth's, 1/7th of Venus', and Astrus is miniscule and distributed as a smattering of moonoids and debris uncommon for numerosity within the solar system 'til quite far outside (abundant in the Kuiper Belt and beyond Pluton), and it seems more likely that a planet originally began forming to become Astrus, and resituating into its farther-orbit-radius distance but under the additional gravity-flinging influence of the then-forming Jupiter-Saturn quad super-planetoids, either, never managed to coalesce, (a zero-energy adjustment: their co-orbits became more elliptical crossing each other rather than simply joining), or, met its intended-constituent-second-quarter-twin-half-mass -or the third-quarter: of might-have-been-larger Mars- at too vigorous an angle and splattered in one final blow (*)...kind of like the prominent theory for Earth's moon recollected from a smallish impact, but without the 'pleasant' two-piece result...
* (If coalescence were already advanced in the quads, and their iron cores already formed and oceans already collected on their surfaces, the gravitational attraction between quads would draw half-ocean-tidalwaves in the hours before co-impact, to directly between--and the resulting strike supercompressing the water to stellar-core density and temperature plasma, the resulting hydrogen-2 deuterium fusion in the shock-bound-'water' zone between the central-near-sides might accelerate both pair-halves, the cores, out of the solar system... But, the 'common' assumption is, that, like Mars, its planet mass was too small to retain much water, But, still early in the inner solar-system, water was in much greater abundance...)
Mars and its 'disasteroid'-would-have-been-twin condensed on the inner edge of the "snowline/frostline/ice line"--the 'gray' zone in the early solar nebula, where ice formed-and-sublimed at significant equilibrium with "atomized" vapors ('molecular' but the verbal term is such),--with the consequence that both became sub-mini-gas-planets (*) having deep atmospheres over comparatively little earth at their cores, But also, in that transitional-ice-phase, without sufficient gravity for faster, they condensed more slowly than the super-planetesimals of the Jupiter-Saturn-quad, and more by agglomeration as loose gas-and-ice-and-dust clouds such that they did not reach accretion mode growth as quickly if-at-all before they decided their Bode-Titius order mean solar orbital distances still in highly elliptical orbits, and the local-gravity of those super-planetesimals pulled away the fringe of the outer of the two, before all settled into more-separated circular orbits--the 'disasteroid' reduced to an asteroid pack, and Mars retaining its atmosphere, cooling down faster than Earth and Venus and reaching full planet status quite livable for billions of years--'til recently.... Thus Mars may be a so-be-it union of empirical habitability such that we are here-now on Earth only shortly afterward because we are-so.... (Other nebula-gas-and-dust-refinement-theories may be forthcoming.)
* (a sub-mini-gas-planet is an order-of-magnitude smaller than a mini-gas-planet 'mini-Neptune', and such that it doesn't outlast its sun).
A less-likely alternative, though with considerable cosmic advisory, is, that, Astrus may have been struck by a far-distant moon of Jupiter, (or other cosmic rogue 'planetbuster'), and exploded—
[2018] But n.b. this less-likely may be more-probable with a recent discovery of a singular prograde orbit far moonoid just-shy of the slightly-dispersed collection of 4 dozen perpendicular,-grade moonoids (with 'Kirkwood' gaps major at 300 radii, minor at 280, 350), implicating a companion, not remnant, of the former impactor—its name, "Valetudo," is a multiple entendre, 'anything goes, all low, hygiene worry, token or pass', so a suggested designation for the Astrus impactor, is, 'Valetudo-B, Capoeira, or var. Hypochrondiast [untimely]'... Note also one main-belt asteroid is all metal iron/nickel and scientists suggest it was a planet core, (its magnetic properties are yet-to-be-measured ca 2023)...
And, if, it was, a simple moonoid collision, this may lead to reconsideration of what planet Astrus, was, and what it may have been for civilization: If Mars was the 'war' planet, then Astrus was its 'armageddon' heap-of-rubble [2]: The archaic Mars-Astrus-pair planets had deep atmospheres, superficially cold at high altitude under 13% solar luminance at orbit distance, compared to Earth 100%; They'd had heavier-gas atmospheres than Jupiter: methane-carbon dioxide-steam 'greenhouses' more like Earth early-on (where it's now chemically entrained)--they'd have been 'pleasantly' warm at some viable depth...and quite possibly Astrus was the effectual incubator for our solar system--its lower mass and thicker atmosphere readily escapable by spacer civilizations--which may have then destroyed its own evidences [3] and moved to Mars (and eventually-now to Earth), or was maybe destroyed by, Martians, in war-competitions...
And, if Astrus had reached planet status in competition with Mars, it may've been the smaller of the two and cooled faster, and further out in the early solar system, had fewer and lesser bombardments, and maintained cooler temperatures, than Mars, and may have developed civilization faster--and gone visiting first... it may've been the early stopover or resource of man in this, solar system... Alternatively, if Astrus was the larger, planet, but with a smaller core than Mars, it may have cooled faster by internal convections and civilization may have started in its lower swimmable, atmosphere...
What is left there may be useful for space-mining and geoplanetary studies of the innermost core depths of planets: 'Frozen' mineral formations will directly inform planet-geologists of what may comprise the center of our Earth: The apparent paucity of uranium in iron asteroids arriving on Earth, suggests uranium is-not heating the core but may have been added later in the crustal development--an argument consistent with passing supernovae contributing the uranium as atomic dust late in the solar nebula and deposited nearer the planet surfaces... or, uranium did not remain with much abundance that far from our central sun (But Mercury might be loaded if not natural-reactor-depleted overheating the little planet)... Other discussion-arguments include the natural zone-refining of uranium from core nickel-iron, and slag-floatation of uranium-oxide...
Anyway--it was apparently destroyed, and any civilization would likely have had a beginning of spacer culture--but even as we find on Earth, a small, expensive, spacer culture--which would have left without most of its burgeoning planetary culture, and a few spacer castaways might have resorted to then-dinosaurial planet Earth estimably billions of years ago... Major pieces of Astrus may have gone into Earth-crossing 'Apollo' cometary orbits about the sun, and resulted in extinction cycles....
What doesn't fit civilizations so well, is that we don't find a lot of mankind on Earth until recent six millennia, And that doesn't allow for much active spacer culture: it was likely neither prepared nor disinterested to leave the solar system when Earth was pole-to-pole clement albeit bombarded by comets... unless their method of space-transport was not, advanced, or, involved fewer, or, spore-forma...
(Note, As twin planets with smaller Mars, the two started as sub-mini-gas-planets in-between 0.68 and 1.24 AU, ca 0.90 AU, today's 'balmy zone'...meanwhile planets Earth and its twin Venus started in-between 0.32 and 0.44 AU, ca 0.38 AU, probably as mini-gas-planets 'mini-Neptunes' boiling-away their proto-atmospheres just-inside today's Mercury-orbit...as suggested by the recent Kepler-11 results, and, cosmic expansion effects, the expanding-space version...)
[1] after the first-discovered, major asteroid Ceres, 2006-redesignation.
[2] Scriptural exegetic theory recently gaining corroborative support contends that
significant solar system information was previously available to remonstrative society,
and a few wise(r)men redacted stories upon facts, and that Scripture is not so much
future predicted, as past-history redacted: In particular St. John's despictions of a large
beast with seven heads and ten horns is symbolic for Jupiter and several moons, and
a smaller beast with two, horns, for Mars and its two moons... Astrus as we've discussed
here, was their new-Earth without deuterium-rich-explosive sea... (cf it is now deducible
that St. John had heard the neutrino-burst 'horn' of Pluton)...
Thus it may be that society has a distant connection to planet Astrus...
[3] possibly by deuterium-enriched-heavy-water-seas detonation if Astrus had collected a
really bulky atmosphere...as proof of its spacer-success...
This article was further developed for a project Sesquatercet movie-story.
A premise discovery under the title,