Formation and evolution of the Solar System eccentricity, with some planets' orbits becoming significantly more—or less—elliptical. Ultimately, the Solar System is stable in that none of the planets are likely to collide with each other or be ejected from the system in the next few billion years. Beyond this, within five billion years or so Mars's eccentricity may grow to around 0.2, such that it lies on an Earth-crossing orbit, leading to a potential collision. In the same timescale, Mercury's eccentricity may grow even further, and a close encounter with Venus could theoretically eject it from the Solar System altogether or send it on a collision course
Formation and evolution of the Solar System times render their formation highly implausible. The two are instead thought to have formed in orbits near Jupiter and Saturn, where more material was available, and to have migrated outward to their current positions over hundreds of millions of years. The migration of the outer planets is also necessary to account for the existence and properties of the Solar System's outermost regions. Beyond Neptune, the Solar System continues into the Kuiper belt, the scattered disc, and the Oort cloud, three sparse populations of small icy bodies thought to be the points of origin for most observed comets. At their distance