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The nebular hypothesis says that the Solar System formed from the gravitational collapse of a fragment of a giant molecular cloud, [10] most likely at the edge of a Wolf-Rayet bubble. [11] The cloud was about 20 parsecs (65 light years) across, [10] while the fragments were roughly 1 parsec (three and a quarter light-years) across. [12]
The nebular hypothesis is the most widely accepted model in the field of cosmogony to explain the formation and evolution of the Solar System (as well as other planetary systems). It suggests the Solar System is formed from gas and dust orbiting the Sun which clumped up together to form the planets.
Solar System dust includes comet dust, planetary dust (like from Mars), [4] asteroidal dust, dust from the Kuiper belt, and interstellar dust passing through the Solar System. Thousands of tons of cosmic dust are estimated to reach Earth's surface every year, [ 5 ] with most grains having a mass between 10 −16 kg (0.1 pg) and 10 −4 kg (0.1 ...
The Solar System is believed to have formed according to the nebular hypothesis, first proposed in 1755 by Immanuel Kant and independently formulated by Pierre-Simon Laplace. [2] This theory holds that 4.6 billion years ago the Solar System formed from the gravitational collapse of a giant molecular cloud. This initial cloud was likely several ...
The gas that formed the Solar System was slightly more massive than the Sun itself. Most of the mass concentrated in the center, forming the Sun, and the rest of the mass flattened into a protoplanetary disk, out of which all of the current planets, moons, asteroids, and other celestial bodies in the Solar System formed.
Diagram of the early Solar System's protoplanetary disk, out of which Earth and other Solar System bodies formed. The Solar System formed at least 4.568 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a region within a large molecular cloud. [b] This initial cloud was likely several light-years across and probably birthed several stars. [14]
The particles that make up the terrestrial planets are made from metal and rock that condensed in the inner Solar System. However, Jovian planets began as large, icy planetesimals, which then captured hydrogen and helium gas from the solar nebula. [32]
A second method detects the light from nitrogen fluorescence caused by the excitation of nitrogen in the atmosphere by particles moving through the atmosphere. This method is the most accurate for cosmic rays at highest energies, in particular when combined with EAS arrays of particle detectors. [84]