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A few planetesimals may have been captured as moons, such as Phoebe (a moon of Saturn) and many other small high-inclination moons of the giant planets. Planetesimals that have survived to the current day are valuable to science because they contain information about the formation of the Solar System. Although their exteriors are subjected to ...
Due to the gravitational effects of the passing star, two spiral-like arms would have extended from the sun, and while most of the material would have fallen back, part of it would remain in orbit. This orbiting material would cool and condense into numerous small bodies that they termed planetesimals and a few larger protoplanets.
The inner Solar System, the region of the Solar System inside 4 AU, was too warm for volatile molecules like water and methane to condense, so the planetesimals that formed there could only form from compounds with high melting points, such as metals (like iron, nickel, and aluminium) and rocky silicates.
A planetesimal is an object formed from dust, rock, and other materials, measuring from meters to hundreds of kilometers in size. According to the Chamberlin–Moulton planetesimal hypothesis and the theories of Viktor Safronov, a protoplanetary disk of materials such as gas and dust would orbit a star early in the formation of a planetary system.
Only the biggest planetesimals survived the fragmentation process and continued to slowly grow into protoplanets by accretion of planetesimals of similar composition. [3] After the protoplanet formed, accumulation of heat from radioactive decay of short-lived elements melted the planet, allowing materials to differentiate (i.e. to separate ...
Grains eventually stick together to form mountain-size (or larger) bodies called planetesimals. Collisions and gravitational interactions between planetesimals combine to produce Moon-size planetary embryos (protoplanets) over roughly 0.1–1 million years. Finally, the planetary embryos collide to form planets over 10–100 million years. [20]
What is finally left is either a planetary system, a remnant disk of dust without planets, or nothing, if planetesimals failed to form. [2] Because planetesimals are so numerous, and spread throughout the protoplanetary disk, some survive the formation of a planetary system. Asteroids are understood to be left-over planetesimals, gradually ...
For a single planet system, planetesimals can only be lost (a sink) due to their ejection, which would cause the planet to migrate inward. In multiple planet systems the other planets can act as sinks or sources. Planetesimals can be removed from the planet's influence after encountering an adjacent planet or transferred to that planet's influence.