Mercury is the most unstable planet of the solar system, with an oscillating orbital eccentricity (between 0 to 0.45). It seems there is a 1% probability in the next 5 billion years Jupiter and Mercury might enter in a 1:1 orbital resonance.
The ending variants for this event are :
- colliding with Venus
- colliding with the Sun
- being ejected from solar system.
Can it hit other targets on its way out of the solar system beside those enumerated, like Earth, Mars or the outer planets?
there is 1% chance that the planet may collide with Venus within the next five billion years
, that is different from a more genericcataclysmic end
. It also talks about a possible future resonant perihelion interaction, it does NOT say that the Jupiter-Mercury system has a 1:1 orbital resonance right now. $\endgroup$ – Py-ser May 7 '14 at 3:41