9. Clumps in Planet-Building
Found Year: 2018.
It Was Discovered by NASA Researchers
Location: Diverse
It is unlikely that the complete enigma behind the birth of a planet will ever be solved. That being said, the Pebble Accretion Theory has garnered some significant support as space research has progressed and further data has become accessible. NASA researchers found the strongest proof of the theory’s accuracy to date in 2018.
Planet-forming clusters ©Shutterstock/Elena11
The researchers conducted extensive studies that revealed golf ball-sized space dust that aggregated to form larger dust clumps. The planets that we know today would have formed from the massive gas, rock, and ice that these planetesimals would have finally formed from collisions and mergers a few billion years ago, creating ever-larger objects.
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