28 September 2023
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Latest News
  • [ 11 September 2023 ] The Great Square of Pegasus: heralding autumn News
  • [ 18 August 2023 ] New comet predicted to brighten rapidly as it sprints Sunwards News
  • [ 2 August 2023 ] NASA picks up faint carrier signal from Voyager 2 News
  • [ 31 July 2023 ] Razor-sharp test images show Euclid’s instruments performing as expected News
  • [ 31 July 2023 ] NASA loses touch with Voyager 2; waits for craft to ‘phone home’ News
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Katherine Kretke

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

  • The Great Square of Pegasus: heralding autumn
    11 September 2023
  • New comet predicted to brighten rapidly as it sprints Sunwards
    18 August 2023
  • NASA picks up faint carrier signal from Voyager 2
    2 August 2023
  • Razor-sharp test images show Euclid’s instruments performing as expected
    31 July 2023
  • NASA loses touch with Voyager 2; waits for craft to ‘phone home’
    31 July 2023
  • Home
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      • September last issue
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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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