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Astronomy 2e

14.3 Formation of the Solar System

Astronomy 2e14.3 Formation of the Solar System

Table of contents
  1. Preface
  2. 1 Science and the Universe: A Brief Tour
    1. Introduction
    2. 1.1 The Nature of Astronomy
    3. 1.2 The Nature of Science
    4. 1.3 The Laws of Nature
    5. 1.4 Numbers in Astronomy
    6. 1.5 Consequences of Light Travel Time
    7. 1.6 A Tour of the Universe
    8. 1.7 The Universe on the Large Scale
    9. 1.8 The Universe of the Very Small
    10. 1.9 A Conclusion and a Beginning
    11. For Further Exploration
  3. 2 Observing the Sky: The Birth of Astronomy
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 2.1 The Sky Above
    3. 2.2 Ancient Astronomy
    4. 2.3 Astrology and Astronomy
    5. 2.4 The Birth of Modern Astronomy
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  4. 3 Orbits and Gravity
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 3.1 The Laws of Planetary Motion
    3. 3.2 Newton’s Great Synthesis
    4. 3.3 Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation
    5. 3.4 Orbits in the Solar System
    6. 3.5 Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft
    7. 3.6 Gravity with More Than Two Bodies
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  5. 4 Earth, Moon, and Sky
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 4.1 Earth and Sky
    3. 4.2 The Seasons
    4. 4.3 Keeping Time
    5. 4.4 The Calendar
    6. 4.5 Phases and Motions of the Moon
    7. 4.6 Ocean Tides and the Moon
    8. 4.7 Eclipses of the Sun and Moon
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary
    11. For Further Exploration
    12. Collaborative Group Activities
    13. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  6. 5 Radiation and Spectra
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 5.1 The Behavior of Light
    3. 5.2 The Electromagnetic Spectrum
    4. 5.3 Spectroscopy in Astronomy
    5. 5.4 The Structure of the Atom
    6. 5.5 Formation of Spectral Lines
    7. 5.6 The Doppler Effect
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  7. 6 Astronomical Instruments
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 6.1 Telescopes
    3. 6.2 Telescopes Today
    4. 6.3 Visible-Light Detectors and Instruments
    5. 6.4 Radio Telescopes
    6. 6.5 Observations outside Earth’s Atmosphere
    7. 6.6 The Future of Large Telescopes
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  8. 7 Other Worlds: An Introduction to the Solar System
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 7.1 Overview of Our Planetary System
    3. 7.2 Composition and Structure of Planets
    4. 7.3 Dating Planetary Surfaces
    5. 7.4 Origin of the Solar System
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  9. 8 Earth as a Planet
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 8.1 The Global Perspective
    3. 8.2 Earth’s Crust
    4. 8.3 Earth’s Atmosphere
    5. 8.4 Life, Chemical Evolution, and Climate Change
    6. 8.5 Cosmic Influences on the Evolution of Earth
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  10. 9 Cratered Worlds
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 9.1 General Properties of the Moon
    3. 9.2 The Lunar Surface
    4. 9.3 Impact Craters
    5. 9.4 The Origin of the Moon
    6. 9.5 Mercury
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  11. 10 Earthlike Planets: Venus and Mars
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 10.1 The Nearest Planets: An Overview
    3. 10.2 The Geology of Venus
    4. 10.3 The Massive Atmosphere of Venus
    5. 10.4 The Geology of Mars
    6. 10.5 Water and Life on Mars
    7. 10.6 Divergent Planetary Evolution
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  12. 11 The Giant Planets
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 11.1 Exploring the Outer Planets
    3. 11.2 The Giant Planets
    4. 11.3 Atmospheres of the Giant Planets
    5. Key Terms
    6. Summary
    7. For Further Exploration
    8. Collaborative Group Activities
    9. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  13. 12 Rings, Moons, and Pluto
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 12.1 Ring and Moon Systems Introduced
    3. 12.2 The Galilean Moons of Jupiter
    4. 12.3 Titan and Triton
    5. 12.4 Pluto and Charon
    6. 12.5 Planetary Rings (and Enceladus)
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  14. 13 Comets and Asteroids: Debris of the Solar System
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 13.1 Asteroids
    3. 13.2 Asteroids and Planetary Defense
    4. 13.3 The “Long-Haired” Comets
    5. 13.4 The Origin and Fate of Comets and Related Objects
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  15. 14 Cosmic Samples and the Origin of the Solar System
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 14.1 Meteors
    3. 14.2 Meteorites: Stones from Heaven
    4. 14.3 Formation of the Solar System
    5. 14.4 Comparison with Other Planetary Systems
    6. 14.5 Planetary Evolution
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  16. 15 The Sun: A Garden-Variety Star
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 15.1 The Structure and Composition of the Sun
    3. 15.2 The Solar Cycle
    4. 15.3 Solar Activity above the Photosphere
    5. 15.4 Space Weather
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  17. 16 The Sun: A Nuclear Powerhouse
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 16.1 Sources of Sunshine: Thermal and Gravitational Energy
    3. 16.2 Mass, Energy, and the Theory of Relativity
    4. 16.3 The Solar Interior: Theory
    5. 16.4 The Solar Interior: Observations
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  18. 17 Analyzing Starlight
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 17.1 The Brightness of Stars
    3. 17.2 Colors of Stars
    4. 17.3 The Spectra of Stars (and Brown Dwarfs)
    5. 17.4 Using Spectra to Measure Stellar Radius, Composition, and Motion
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  19. 18 The Stars: A Celestial Census
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 18.1 A Stellar Census
    3. 18.2 Measuring Stellar Masses
    4. 18.3 Diameters of Stars
    5. 18.4 The H–R Diagram
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  20. 19 Celestial Distances
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 19.1 Fundamental Units of Distance
    3. 19.2 Surveying the Stars
    4. 19.3 Variable Stars: One Key to Cosmic Distances
    5. 19.4 The H–R Diagram and Cosmic Distances
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  21. 20 Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 20.1 The Interstellar Medium
    3. 20.2 Interstellar Gas
    4. 20.3 Cosmic Dust
    5. 20.4 Cosmic Rays
    6. 20.5 The Life Cycle of Cosmic Material
    7. 20.6 Interstellar Matter around the Sun
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  22. 21 The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 21.1 Star Formation
    3. 21.2 The H–R Diagram and the Study of Stellar Evolution
    4. 21.3 Evidence That Planets Form around Other Stars
    5. 21.4 Planets beyond the Solar System: Search and Discovery
    6. 21.5 Exoplanets Everywhere: What We Are Learning
    7. 21.6 New Perspectives on Planet Formation
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  23. 22 Stars from Adolescence to Old Age
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 22.1 Evolution from the Main Sequence to Red Giants
    3. 22.2 Star Clusters
    4. 22.3 Checking Out the Theory
    5. 22.4 Further Evolution of Stars
    6. 22.5 The Evolution of More Massive Stars
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  24. 23 The Death of Stars
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 23.1 The Death of Low-Mass Stars
    3. 23.2 Evolution of Massive Stars: An Explosive Finish
    4. 23.3 Supernova Observations
    5. 23.4 Pulsars and the Discovery of Neutron Stars
    6. 23.5 The Evolution of Binary Star Systems
    7. 23.6 The Mystery of the Gamma-Ray Bursts
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  25. 24 Black Holes and Curved Spacetime
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 24.1 Introducing General Relativity
    3. 24.2 Spacetime and Gravity
    4. 24.3 Tests of General Relativity
    5. 24.4 Time in General Relativity
    6. 24.5 Black Holes
    7. 24.6 Evidence for Black Holes
    8. 24.7 Gravitational Wave Astronomy
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary
    11. For Further Exploration
    12. Collaborative Group Activities
    13. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  26. 25 The Milky Way Galaxy
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 25.1 The Architecture of the Galaxy
    3. 25.2 Spiral Structure
    4. 25.3 The Mass of the Galaxy
    5. 25.4 The Center of the Galaxy
    6. 25.5 Stellar Populations in the Galaxy
    7. 25.6 The Formation of the Galaxy
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  27. 26 Galaxies
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 26.1 The Discovery of Galaxies
    3. 26.2 Types of Galaxies
    4. 26.3 Properties of Galaxies
    5. 26.4 The Extragalactic Distance Scale
    6. 26.5 The Expanding Universe
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  28. 27 Active Galaxies, Quasars, and Supermassive Black Holes
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 27.1 Quasars
    3. 27.2 Supermassive Black Holes: What Quasars Really Are
    4. 27.3 Quasars as Probes of Evolution in the Universe
    5. Key Terms
    6. Summary
    7. For Further Exploration
    8. Collaborative Group Activities
    9. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  29. 28 The Evolution and Distribution of Galaxies
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 28.1 Observations of Distant Galaxies
    3. 28.2 Galaxy Mergers and Active Galactic Nuclei
    4. 28.3 The Distribution of Galaxies in Space
    5. 28.4 The Challenge of Dark Matter
    6. 28.5 The Formation and Evolution of Galaxies and Structure in the Universe
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  30. 29 The Big Bang
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 29.1 The Age of the Universe
    3. 29.2 A Model of the Universe
    4. 29.3 The Beginning of the Universe
    5. 29.4 The Cosmic Microwave Background
    6. 29.5 What Is the Universe Really Made Of?
    7. 29.6 The Inflationary Universe
    8. 29.7 The Anthropic Principle
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary
    11. For Further Exploration
    12. Collaborative Group Activities
    13. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  31. 30 Life in the Universe
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 30.1 The Cosmic Context for Life
    3. 30.2 Astrobiology
    4. 30.3 Searching for Life beyond Earth
    5. 30.4 The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  32. A | How to Study for an Introductory Astronomy Class
  33. B | Astronomy Websites, Images, and Apps
  34. C | Scientific Notation
  35. D | Units Used in Science
  36. E | Some Useful Constants for Astronomy
  37. F | Physical and Orbital Data for the Planets
  38. G | Selected Moons of the Planets
  39. H | Future Total Eclipses
  40. I | The Nearest Stars, Brown Dwarfs, and White Dwarfs
  41. J | The Brightest Twenty Stars
  42. K | The Chemical Elements
  43. L | The Constellations
  44. M | Star Chart and Sky Event Resources
  45. Index

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Describe the motion, chemical, and age constraints that must be met by any theory of solar system formation
  • Summarize the physical and chemical changes during the solar nebula stage of solar system formation
  • Explain the formation process of the terrestrial and giant planets
  • Describe the main events of the further evolution of the solar system

As we have seen, the comets, asteroids, and meteorites are surviving remnants from the processes that formed the solar system. The planets, moons, and the Sun, of course, also are the products of the formation process, although the material in them has undergone a wide range of changes. We are now ready to put together the information from all these objects to discuss what is known about the origin of the solar system.

Observational Constraints

There are certain basic properties of the planetary system that any theory of its formation must explain. These may be summarized under three categories: motion constraints, chemical constraints, and age constraints. We call them constraints because they place restrictions on our theories; unless a theory can explain the observed facts, it will not survive in the competitive marketplace of ideas that characterizes the endeavor of science. Let’s take a look at these constraints one by one.

There are many regularities to the motions in the solar system. We saw that the planets all revolve around the Sun in the same direction and approximately in the plane of the Sun’s own rotation. In addition, most of the planets rotate in the same direction as they revolve, and most of the moons also move in counterclockwise orbits (when seen from the north). With the exception of the comets and other trans-neptunian objects, the motions of the system members define a disk or Frisbee shape. Nevertheless, a full theory must also be prepared to deal with the exceptions to these trends, such as the retrograde rotation (not revolution) of Venus.

In the realm of chemistry, we saw that Jupiter and Saturn have approximately the same composition—dominated by hydrogen and helium. These are the two largest planets, with sufficient gravity to hold on to any gas present when and where they formed; thus, we might expect them to be representative of the original material out of which the solar system formed. Each of the other members of the planetary system is, to some degree, lacking in the light elements. A careful examination of the composition of solid solar-system objects shows a striking progression from the metal-rich inner planets, through those made predominantly of rocky materials, out to objects with ice-dominated compositions in the outer solar system. The comets in the Oort cloud and the trans-neptunian objects in the Kuiper belt are also icy objects, whereas the asteroids represent a transitional rocky composition with abundant dark, carbon-rich material.

As we saw in Other Worlds: An Introduction to the Solar System, this general chemical pattern can be interpreted as a temperature sequence: hot near the Sun and cooler as we move outward. The inner parts of the system are generally missing those materials that could not condense (form a solid) at the high temperatures found near the Sun. However, there are (again) important exceptions to the general pattern. For example, it is difficult to explain the presence of water on Earth and Mars if these planets formed in a region where the temperature was too hot for ice to condense, unless the ice or water was brought in later from cooler regions. The extreme example is the observation that there are polar deposits of ice on both Mercury and the Moon; these are almost certainly formed and maintained by occasional comet impacts.

As far as age is concerned, we discussed that radioactive dating demonstrates that some rocks on the surface of Earth have been present for at least 3.8 billion years, and that certain lunar samples are 4.4 billion years old. The primitive meteorites all have radioactive ages near 4.5 billion years. The age of these unaltered building blocks is considered the age of the planetary system. The similarity of the measured ages tells us that planets formed and their crusts cooled within a few tens of millions of years (at most) of the beginning of the solar system. Further, detailed examination of primitive meteorites indicates that they are made primarily from material that condensed or coagulated out of a hot gas; few identifiable fragments appear to have survived from before this hot-vapor stage 4.5 billion years ago.

The Solar Nebula

All the foregoing constraints are consistent with the general idea, introduced in Other Worlds: An Introduction to the Solar System, that the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago out of a rotating cloud of vapor and dust—which we call the solar nebula—with an initial composition similar to that of the Sun today. As the solar nebula collapsed under its own gravity, material fell toward the center, where things became more and more concentrated and hot. Increasing temperatures in the shrinking nebula vaporized most of the solid material that was originally present.

At the same time, the collapsing nebula began to rotate faster through the conservation of angular momentum (see the Orbits and Gravity and Earth, Moon, and Sky chapters). Like a figure skater pulling her arms in to spin faster, the shrinking cloud spun more quickly as time went on. Now, think about how a round object spins. Close to the poles, the spin rate is slow, and it gets faster as you get closer to the equator. In the same way, near the poles of the nebula, where orbits were slow, the nebular material fell directly into the center. Faster moving material, on the other hand, collapsed into a flat disk revolving around the central object (Figure 14.11). The existence of this disk-shaped rotating nebula explains the primary motions in the solar system that we discussed in the previous section. And since they formed from a rotating disk, the planets all orbit the same way.

A figure depicting the steps in forming the solar system. Part 1 shows a cloud of dust with four arrows pointing toward the center. Part 2 shows a condensed sphere of dust in the center surrounded by a flattened disk of material. Part 3 shows a small, dense sphere surrounded by a disk of material. Part 4 shows a protosun sphere in the center, surrounded by a disk of material with several small dots representing planetesimals.
Figure 14.11 Steps in Forming the Solar System. This illustration shows the steps in the formation of the solar system from the solar nebula. As the nebula shrinks, its rotation causes it to flatten into a disk. Much of the material is concentrated in the hot center, which will ultimately become a star. Away from the center, solid particles can condense as the nebula cools, giving rise to planetesimals, the building blocks of the planets and moons.

Picture the solar nebula at the end of the collapse phase, when it was at its hottest. With no more gravitational energy (from material falling in) to heat it, most of the nebula began to cool. The material in the center, however, where it was hottest and most crowded, formed a star that maintained high temperatures in its immediate neighborhood by producing its own energy. Turbulent motions and magnetic fields within the disk can drain away angular momentum, robbing the disk material of some of its spin. This allowed some material to continue to fall into the growing star, while the rest of the disk gradually stabilized.

The temperature within the disk decreased with increasing distance from the Sun, much as the planets’ temperatures vary with position today. As the disk cooled, the gases interacted chemically to produce compounds; eventually these compounds condensed into liquid droplets or solid grains. This is similar to the process by which raindrops on Earth condense from moist air as it rises over a mountain.

Let’s look in more detail at how material condensed at different places in the maturing disk (Figure 14.12). The first materials to form solid grains were the metals and various rock-forming silicates. As the temperature dropped, these were joined throughout much of the solar nebula by sulfur compounds and by carbon- and water-rich silicates, such as those now found abundantly among the asteroids. However, in the inner parts of the disk, the temperature never dropped low enough for such materials as ice or carbonaceous organic compounds to condense, so they were lacking on the innermost planets.

A figure showing the chemical condensation sequence in the solar nebula. At the upper left of the figure is the Sun, and from left to right across the top are the planets and bodies Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroid, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. At the bottom of the figure is an axis labeled “Temperature (K)” ranging from 1700 on the left to 0 on the right. A label above 1600 K reads “Metal oxides (e.g. Al 2 O 3)”. A label above 1400 K reads “Iron-nickel alloy”. A label above 1200 to 900 K reads “Silicate minerals”. A label above 1000 to 700 K reads “Iron oxide (Fe O) and Olivine (Fe 2 Si O 4 and Mg 2 Si O 4”. A label above 600 K reads “Triolite (Fe S)”. A label above 450 to 350 K reads “Hydrated minerals (containing H 2 O”. A label above 250 K reads “Water (H 2 O)”. A label above 150 K reads “Ammonia (N H 3)”. A label above 100 K reads “Methane (C H 4)”.
Figure 14.12 Chemical Condensation Sequence in the Solar Nebula. The scale along the bottom shows temperature; above are the materials that would condense out at each temperature under the conditions expected to prevail in the nebula.

Far from the Sun, cooler temperatures allowed the oxygen to combine with hydrogen and condense in the form of water (H2O) ice. Beyond the orbit of Saturn, carbon and nitrogen combined with hydrogen to make ices such as methane (CH4) and ammonia (NH3). This sequence of events explains the basic chemical composition differences among various regions of the solar system.

Example 14.1

Rotation of the Solar Nebula

We can use the concept of angular momentum to trace the evolution of the collapsing solar nebula. The angular momentum of an object is proportional to the square of its size (diameter) divided by its period of rotation (D2P)(D2P). If angular momentum is conserved, then any change in the size of a nebula must be compensated for by a proportional change in period, in order to keep D2PD2P constant. Suppose the solar nebula began with a diameter of 10,000 AU and a rotation period of 1 million years. What is its rotation period when it has shrunk to the size of Pluto’s orbit, which Appendix F tells us has a radius of about 40 AU?

Solution

We are given that the final diameter of the solar nebula is about 80 AU. Noting the initial state before the collapse and the final state at Pluto’s orbit, then
PfinalPinitial=(DfinalDinitial)2=(8010,000)2=(0.008)2=0.000064PfinalPinitial=(DfinalDinitial)2=(8010,000)2=(0.008)2=0.000064

With Pinitial equal to 1,000,000 years, Pfinal, the new rotation period, is 64 years. This is a lot shorter than the actual time Pluto takes to go around the Sun, but it gives you a sense of the kind of speeding up the conservation of angular momentum can produce. As we noted earlier, other mechanisms helped the material in the disk lose angular momentum before the planets fully formed.

Check Your Learning

What would the rotation period of the nebula in our example be when it had shrunk to the size of Jupiter’s orbit?

Answer:

The period of the rotating nebula is inversely proportional to D2D2. As we have just seen, PfinalPinitial=(DfinalDinitial)2.PfinalPinitial=(DfinalDinitial)2. Initially, we have Pinitial = 106 yr and Dinitial = 104 AU. Then, if Dfinal is in AU, Pfinal (in years) is given by Pfinal=0.01Dfinal2.Pfinal=0.01Dfinal2. If Jupiter’s orbit has a radius of 5.2 AU, then the diameter is 10.4 AU. The period is then 1.08 years.

Formation of the Terrestrial Planets

The grains that condensed in the solar nebula rather quickly joined into larger and larger chunks, until most of the solid material was in the form of planetesimals, chunks a few kilometers to a few tens of kilometers in diameter. Some planetesimals still survive today as comets and asteroids. Others have left their imprint on the cratered surfaces of many of the worlds we studied in earlier chapters. A substantial step up in size is required, however, to go from planetesimal to planet.

Some planetesimals were large enough to attract their neighbors gravitationally and thus to grow by the process called accretion. While the intermediate steps are not well understood, ultimately several dozen centers of accretion seem to have grown in the inner solar system. Each of these attracted surrounding planetesimals until it had acquired a mass similar to that of Mercury or Mars. At this stage, we may think of these objects as protoplanets—“not quite ready for prime time” planets.

Each of these protoplanets continued to grow by the accretion of planetesimals. Every incoming planetesimal was accelerated by the gravity of the protoplanet, striking with enough energy to melt both the projectile and a part of the impact area. Soon the entire protoplanet was heated to above the melting temperature of rocks. The result was planetary differentiation, with heavier metals sinking toward the core and lighter silicates rising toward the surface. As they were heated, the inner protoplanets lost some of their more volatile constituents (the lighter gases), leaving more of the heavier elements and compounds behind.

Formation of the Giant Planets

In the outer solar system, where the available raw materials included ices as well as rocks, the protoplanets grew to be much larger, with masses ten times greater than Earth. These protoplanets of the outer solar system were so large that they were able to attract and hold the surrounding gas. As the hydrogen and helium rapidly collapsed onto their cores, the giant planets were heated by the energy of contraction. But although these giant planets got hotter than their terrestrial siblings, they were far too small to raise their central temperatures and pressures to the point where nuclear reactions could begin (and it is such reactions that give us our definition of a star). After glowing dull red for a few thousand years, the giant planets gradually cooled to their present state (Figure 14.13).

An image of Saturn seen in infrared. The rings are shown in blue, and the planet sphere is mostly green with some red at the bottom and a black ring around the upper top of the sphere.
Figure 14.13 Saturn Seen in Infrared. This image from the Cassini spacecraft is stitched together from 65 individual observations. Sunlight reflected at a wavelength of 2 micrometers is shown as blue, sunlight reflected at 3 micrometers is shown as green, and heat radiated from Saturn’s interior at 5 micrometers is red. For example, Saturn’s rings reflect sunlight at 2 micrometers, but not at 3 and 5 micrometers, so they appear blue. Saturn’s south polar regions are seen glowing with internal heat. (credit: modification of work by NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

The collapse of gas from the nebula onto the cores of the giant planets explains how these objects acquired nearly the same hydrogen-rich composition as the Sun. The process was most efficient for Jupiter and Saturn; hence, their compositions are most nearly “cosmic.” Much less gas was captured by Uranus and Neptune, which is why these two planets have compositions dominated by the icy and rocky building blocks that made up their large cores rather than by hydrogen and helium. The initial formation period ended when much of the available raw material was used up and the solar wind (the flow of atomic particles) from the young Sun blew away the remaining supply of lighter gases.

Further Evolution of the System

All the processes we have just described, from the collapse of the solar nebula to the formation of protoplanets, took place within a few million years. However, the story of the formation of the solar system was not complete at this stage; there were many planetesimals and other debris that did not initially accumulate to form the planets. What was their fate?

The comets visible to us today are merely the tip of the cosmic iceberg (if you’ll pardon the pun). Most comets are believed to be in the Oort cloud, far from the region of the planets. Additional comets and icy dwarf planets are in the Kuiper belt, which stretches beyond the orbit of Neptune. These icy pieces probably formed near the present orbits of Uranus and Neptune but were ejected from their initial orbits by the gravitational influence of the giant planets.

In the inner parts of the system, remnant planetesimals and perhaps several dozen protoplanets continued to whiz about. Over the vast span of time we are discussing, collisions among these objects were inevitable. Giant impacts at this stage may have stripped Mercury of part of its mantle and crust, reversed the rotation of Venus, and broke off part of Earth to create the Moon (all events we discussed in other chapters).

Smaller-scale impacts also added mass to the inner protoplanets. Because the gravity of the giant planets could “stir up” the orbits of the planetesimals, the material impacting on the inner protoplanets could have come from almost anywhere within the solar system. In contrast to the previous stage of accretion, therefore, this new material did not represent just a narrow range of compositions.

As a result, much of the debris striking the inner planets was ice-rich material that had condensed in the outer part of the solar nebula. As this comet-like bombardment progressed, Earth accumulated the water and various organic compounds that would later be critical to the formation of life. Mars and Venus probably also acquired abundant water and organic materials from the same source, as Mercury and the Moon are still doing to form their icy polar caps.

Gradually, as the planets swept up or ejected the remaining debris, most of the planetesimals disappeared. In two regions, however, stable orbits are possible where leftover planetesimals could avoid impacting the planets or being ejected from the system. These regions are the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune. The planetesimals (and their fragments) that survive in these special locations are what we now call asteroids, comets, and trans-neptunian objects.

Astronomers used to think that the solar system that emerged from this early evolution was similar to what we see today. Detailed recent studies of the orbits of the planets and asteroids, however, suggest that there were more violent events soon afterward, perhaps involving substantial changes in the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. These two giant planets control, through their gravity, the distribution of asteroids. Working backward from our present solar system, it appears that orbital changes took place during the first few hundred million years. One consequence may have been scattering of asteroids into the inner solar system, causing the period of “heavy bombardment” recorded in the oldest lunar craters.

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