/Notes/ Formation of Planets

NASA

Th

e s

tory

so

far:

NASA

NASA/JPL-Caltech/A. Noriega-Crespo (SSC/Caltech), Digital Sky Survey

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UIUC

http://www.redorbit.com/modules/reflib/article_images/6_a1ae8ebf66110513af3385295f837b59.jpg

Protoplanetary disk

Gas and dust left over from the formation of a

star.

NASA

http://www.maths.qmul.ac.uk/~masset/movies/flyby.png

Gravity

Begins pulling together

bits of rock and gas

NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

Planetesimals

Baby planets

NASA

NASA

Planetesimals

They’re violent

NASA

NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

Planets form

Planetesimals collide and grow larger until they become planets