SIMBAD references

The Solar system is investigated for positional correlations between the planets using a logarithmic distance scale. The pair correlation function for the logarithm of the semimajor axis shows a regular distribution with five to seven consecutive peaks, and the Fourier transform hereof shows reciprocal peaks of first and second order. A procedure involving random permutations for the shuffling of the inter-logarithmic distances is employed. This probes for the presence of correlations of longer range than neighbouring planets. The use of permutations is, in particular, a helpful analysis when the number of data points is small. The pair correlation function of the permutated planets lacks the sequence of equidistant peaks, and its Fourier transform has no second-order peak. This analysis demonstrates the existence of longer ranged correlations in the Solar system.