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$\begingroup$ "Such a system would almost certainly be unstable." - I think that's putting it mildly. Say Mercury's orbit were tilted at 90 degrees to get the value 1.056. For a planet further out to be closer on average it would still have to have an orbit within 0.47 au (Mercury is 0.39, Venus is 0.73). I think that is close enough to Mercury to make instability a certainty, even if Mercury's orbit weren't tipped 90 degrees. $\endgroup$
– Jason Goemaat
Commented Nov 3, 2021 at 22:39
$\begingroup$ @JasonGoemaat Agreed. Though I suppose all n-body systems are unstable, it is just a matter of the time-scale. The point I make in this post is that even if we are unlikely to ever see a counter-example, we can't rule it out based purely on the orbital geometry. $\endgroup$
– Connor Garcia ♦
Commented Nov 4, 2021 at 15:32

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