Calculation of the enrichment of the giant planet envelopes during the “late heavy bombardment” (original) (raw)

The giant planets of our solar system possess envelopes consisting mainly of hydrogen and helium but are also significantly enriched in heavier elements relatively to our Sun. In order to better constrain how these heavy elements have been delivered, we quantify the amount accreted during the so-called "late heavy bombardment", at a time when planets were fully formed and planetesimals could not sink deep into the planets. On the basis of the "Nice model", we obtain accreted masses (in terrestrial units) equal to 0.15 ± 0.04 M ⊕ for Jupiter, and 0.08 ± 0.01 M ⊕ for Saturn.