Is there any way to change a planets orbit ?

Question

say a planet the size of jupiter . and you only have 2 years to do it.

Answer 1

Absolutely.  When New Horizons went by Jupiter, it got a gravity assist, and Jupiter's orbit changed.  Now, it didn't change much.  I might be an inch different by the time the Sun runs out of fuel, but the orbit did change.

But let's say that you want to change the orbit of the Earth.  Let's say you want to expand the orbit ahead of the expansion of the Sun, as the Sun becomes a Red Giant.  Well, you could get a big asteroid, and do this sort of figure 8 with it around the Earth and Jupiter.  This could steal orbital energy from Jupiter, and effectively give it to the Earth.  Calculations show that there's plenty of time.

And, when the Sun collapses into a White Dwarf, you could reverse the process.

There are details to work out, but no new physics.

It's hard to imagine why you'd want to move Jupiter.

Answer 2

Suitti is correct. Repeated passes by asteroid bases, possibly with steering capability or being directed simply by gravity of another planet, will achieve this over a long period of time. The gravitational interaction causes the Earth to be "deflected". I believe it's conservation of momentum, though I'm happy to be corrected.

Answer 3

In terms of current human ability there is very little you could possibly do to move the entire Mass of a planet like Jupiter.  Even a little one like Mercury would be just about impossible.

The only things I can think of involve natural astronomical phenomenon, like large asteroids or other celestial bodies impacting.  Jupiter is gaseous, though, so even something like that probably wouldn't work.

If the sun exploded, that would technically do it too.

Answer 4

i don't think that it is possible.

but if there is some really big planet or a big heavenly body (bigger than sun ) very near to jupiter than it might be possible that this new planet will attract the jupiter and thereby changing its orbit.

Answer 5

If the planet collides with a very large meteor, another planet, or a large moon. This will change the planets orbital rotation, because now it is off balance.  

Answer 6

you just need to lower or increase the orbital velocity.

you could siphon off the hydrogen gas of Jupiter, it would lose some mass and lower it orbital speed a bit. but it might cause problems with it's moons.

If there is a lot of oxygen present on jupiter, then you could theoretically ignite the hydrogen and the explosion will definately change the orbit.

  

Answer 7

Currently no the time it would take to reach jupiter would elimanate any effort from earth.

Answer 8

I not sure a planet the size of Jupiter would, but smaller planet such as mars being crashed by a meteor the size of pluto could definately could change the orbit a small amount each orbit post crash occuring....

Answer 9

You can change any orbit of any body - you just need to apply a force big enough.  

Answer 10

I believe the name of the book is First and Last Men... the book is a history of mankind from today to extinction 5 billion years from now. Towards the end of the book "humans" had the ability to move planets like craft over long periods of time using an unspecified annihilation process similar to what antimatter and matter do.

In reality, antimatter is not readily available and to produce it one needs to spend more energy that one actually gets from the reaction... the fusion process is probably the only high energy source that could come close to fueling the acceleration of a planet, but I doubt it would be possible. A machine capable of moving say the Earth to any noticeable degree would probably be as large as a continent, use all the hydrogen in the seas, and take millions of years to execute the burn. I other words... its not going to happen.

And in reaction to all the answers about crashing other bodies into the said planet in need of movement I have a few things to comment on. To move a planet one would have to crash another very massive planet into it... so how would you accelerate that planet? And the results of such a collision wouldn't leave much in the way of the planet you knew.

In summary, microbes can't move furniture... humans can't move planets =(