The solar system began to form from a giant molecular cloud of gas and dust particles about 4.6 billion years ago. This cloud most likely experienced a shock wave from a nearby supernova, which could have made it collapse under its own gravity. It then began to spin and flatten into a disk shape due to conservation of angular momentum. Most of the material in this nebula was pulled towards the center, in which formed our Sun. Within the spinning disk, the process of accretion had tiny grains of dust colling that caused them to stick and form larger particles called planetesimals. These planetesimals continued to collide and accumulate to form planets. Close to the Sun, where it is hotter, only rocky materials could condense, leading to the formation of 4 inner terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. As you go more towards the outside, the cooler, icy materials are able to condense, allowing for the formation of the outer gas giants: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. As the planets formed, they cleared out their paths of orbit, by gravitational attraction. However, some debris remained which led to the formation of asteroids and comets. Asteroids are rocky remnants from the early solar system that never formed into planets, primarily found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Comets are icy bodies composed of dust, rock, and ice that originate from the outer solar system and sometimes head closer to the Sun.
Tag: futurephysicist
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Hello everyone, I will post a few fun facts about Physics (and Astrophysics) every Tuesday!
Facts!!
- Scientists use detectors that are about the size of buildings to capture the products made by particle colliders. These detectors can pick up just about all particles created in these collisions.
- A big question that is still asked today, is the nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Dark Energy is about 68% of the Universe and 27% of the Universe is Dark Matter, and the rest is what we have only observed so far!
- The Voyager 1 spacecraft which was launched on September 5, 1977, is the farthest human sent object from Earth and has entered interstellar space, which means that it is in the process of leaving the influence of the Sun’s solar winds.
Image of the Day! 1/23/2024 Deep Nebulas: From Seagull to California
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