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planetesimal
(redirected from Planetesimals)

    Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.06 sec.

planetesimal

One of a class of bodies that are theorized to have formed the planets after condensing from diffuse matter early in the history of the solar system. According to the nebular hypothesis, part of an interstellar cloud of dust and gas underwent gravitational contraction to form a solar nebula comprising a disk of matter with a central hub. As the disk contracted further, clumps of matter left behind in its midplane coalesced successively into bodies the size of pebbles and boulders and then into planetesimals up to several hundred miles across. These then combined under the force of gravity to form protoplanets, precursors of most of the current planets.
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54 Placebos 318 Plague 261 Planetariums 344 Planetary nebula 8 Planetary science 330 Planetary systems 388 Planetesimals 184 Planets, extrasolar 62, 280, 371, 388 Planets, formation 184 Planets, missions to 330 Plants 6, 54, 69, 109, 118, 150, 168, 381,406 Plasmas 87, 398 Plastics 181 Plattner, Stuart 106 Pleistocene extinctions 69 Pletnev, Alexander G.
Science news index. (Index) by Science News
Asteroids are referred to as planetesimals -- tiny seeds that were denied the chance to accrete into anything larger.
Lockheed Martin Space Instrument to Study Comet Discovered by Santa ... by Business Wire
In addition to comets, asteroid-size planetesimals containing water with less deuterium could have contributed to the late veneer, says Ozernoy.
Water for the rock; did Earth's oceans come from the heavens? by Harder, Ben / Science News
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