1 June 2023
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Latest News
  • [ 26 May 2023 ] Seeing the universe in X-rays, optical and infrared, all at once News
  • [ 15 May 2023 ] A record-setting explosion as a supermassive black hole gorges on gas News
  • [ 13 May 2023 ] Globular cluster mystery may be explained by short-lived ultra-massive suns News
  • [ 12 May 2023 ] Jammed radar boom on Jupiter-bound Juice probe finally freed News
  • [ 11 May 2023 ] NASA developing a robotic snake to slither on – and into – icy moons News
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Hal Levison

News

Scientists predict that rocky planets formed from ‘pebbles’

27 October 2015 Astronomy Now

Using a new process in planetary formation modelling, where planets grow from tiny bodies called “pebbles,” Southwest Research Institute scientists can explain why Mars is so much smaller than Earth. This same process also explains the rapid formation of the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, as reported earlier this year.

News

Largest planets likely formed first from icy “planetary pebbles”

20 August 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and Queen’s University in Canada have unravelled the mystery of how Jupiter and Saturn likely formed using computer simulations. The discovery, which changes our view of how all planets might have formed, also suggests that the gas giants in the solar system probably formed before the terrestrial planets.

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News Headlines

  • Seeing the universe in X-rays, optical and infrared, all at once
    26 May 2023
  • A record-setting explosion as a supermassive black hole gorges on gas
    15 May 2023
  • Globular cluster mystery may be explained by short-lived ultra-massive suns
    13 May 2023
  • Jammed radar boom on Jupiter-bound Juice probe finally freed
    12 May 2023
  • NASA developing a robotic snake to slither on – and into – icy moons
    11 May 2023
  • Home
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      • April last issue
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  • AstroFest 2023
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    • DSLR Calc
  • Reviews
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    • Book Reviews
  • Spaceflight Now
  • Shop
  • Contact Us
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    • Ask Astronomy Now
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