planet formation tagged posts

Earth and Mars were formed from Inner Solar System Material

Camera Name: Color Camera Nikon DS-Fi3 Numerical Aperture: 0.08 Refractive Index: 1 Camera Settings: Camera Type: Nikon DS-Fi3 Binning: 1.0×1.0 Exposure: 67 ms Gain: 2.0x Sharpness: Medium Brightness: 0.00 Hue: 0.00 Saturation: 0.00 WB Red: 1.96 WB Blue: 2.97 Scene Mode: Neutral Microscope Settings: Microscope: Manual Microscope

Earth and Mars were formed from material that largely originated in the inner solar system; only a few percent of the building blocks of these two planets originated beyond Jupiter’s orbit. A group of researchers led by the University of Münster (Germany) report these findings today in the journal Science Advances...

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Earth and Venus grew up as Rambunctious Planets

Simulated aftermath of a hit-and-run collisions between the young Earth and  another planetary body
The moon is thought to be the aftermath of a giant impact. According to a new theory, there were two giant impacts in a row, separated by about 1 million years, involving a Mars-sized ‘Theia’ and proto-Earth. In this image, the proposed hit-and-run collision is simulated in 3D, shown about an hour after impact. A cut-away view shows the iron cores. Theia (or most of it) barely escapes, so a follow-on collision is likely.A. Emsenhuber/University of Bern/University of Munich

Using machine learning and simulations of giant impacts, researchers found that the planets residing in the inner solar system were likely born from repeated hit-and-run collisions, challenging conventional models of planet formation.

Planet formation — the process by which neat, round, distinct planets form from ...

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Study of Young Chaotic Star System reveals Planet Formation secrets

Using gas velocity data, scientists observing Elias 2-27 were able to directly measure the mass of the young star’s protoplanetary disk and also trace dynamical perturbations in the star system. Visible in this paneled composite are the dust continuum 0.87mm emission data (blue), along with emissions from gases C18O (yellow) and 13CO (red).
Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/T. Paneque-Carreño (Universidad de Chile), B. Saxton (NRAO)

A team of scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to study the young star Elias 2-27 have confirmed that gravitational instabilities play a key role in planet formation, and have for the first time directly measured the mass of protoplanetary disks using gas velocity data, potentially unlocking one of the mysteries of planet fo...

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Oldest-Ever Igneous Meteorite contains clues to Planet Building Blocks

NWA 11119 is an unusual light-green fusion crust, silica mineral-rich achondrite meteorite. Credit: UNM Institute of Meteoritics

NWA 11119 is an unusual light-green fusion crust, silica mineral-rich achondrite meteorite.
Credit: UNM Institute of Meteoritics

Scientists believe the solar system was formed some 4.6 billion years ago when a cloud of gas and dust collapsed under gravity possibly triggered by cataclysmic explosion from a nearby massive star or supernova. As this cloud collapsed, it formed a spinning disk with the sun in the center. Since then scientists have been able to establish the formation of the solar system piece by piece. Now, new research has enabled scientists from The University of New Mexico, Arizona State University and NASA’s Johnson Space Center to add another piece to that puzzle with the discovery of the oldest-ever dated igneous meteorite.

The research titled, Silica-rich volcanism in the...

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