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How did the planets and sun form from this cloud?
The Sun and the planets formed together, 4.6 billion years ago, from a cloud of gas and dust called the solar nebula. A shock wave from a nearby supernova explosion probably initiated the collapse of the solar nebula. The Sun formed in the center, and the planets formed in a thin disk orbiting around it.
How the Sun and planets formed from a cloud of gas and dust?
Our solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago from a dense cloud of interstellar gas and dust. The cloud collapsed, possibly due to the shockwave of a nearby exploding star, called a supernova. When this dust cloud collapsed, it formed a solar nebula – a spinning, swirling disk of material.
How did the gas giant planets form?
Gas giants could get their start in the gas-rich debris disk that surrounds a young star. A core produced by collisions among asteroids and comets provides a seed, and when this core reaches sufficient mass, its gravitational pull rapidly attracts gas from the disk to form the planet.
How were the planets created from dust and gas?
The Birth of the Planets. The material in the nebula not absorbed into the Sun swirled around it into a flat disk of dust and gas, held in orbit by the Sun’s gravity. Each planet began as microscopic grains of dust in the accretion disk. The atoms and molecules began to stick together, or accrete, into larger particles …
Which planet was formed from the light gases of the outer solar nebula?
Unlike most gas giants, Uranus has a core that is rocky rather than gaseous. The core likely formed first, and then gathered up the hydrogen, helium and methane that make up the planet’s atmosphere.
How did the rocky planets form?
The formation of rocky planets happens over billions of years, through a process called accretion. As the pressure and temperature rise the elements that have been accreted heat up, melt, and differentiate, with heavier elements sinking to the core of the planet and lighter elements floating to the surface.