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How Did The Solar System Form?

This document discusses how scientists study solar system formation and search for other Earth-like planets. It explores how looking at our own solar system's formation, observing other systems forming, finding and studying existing systems, and creating computer models can provide insights. Disks of dust and gas are seen around young stars, and models show planets growing in disks, though simulating all aspects at once remains challenging. While our basic theories seem correct, observations of differences between systems and issues with simulations leave many open questions about whether conditions for life are rare or common in the universe.

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161 views43 pages

How Did The Solar System Form?

This document discusses how scientists study solar system formation and search for other Earth-like planets. It explores how looking at our own solar system's formation, observing other systems forming, finding and studying existing systems, and creating computer models can provide insights. Disks of dust and gas are seen around young stars, and models show planets growing in disks, though simulating all aspects at once remains challenging. While our basic theories seem correct, observations of differences between systems and issues with simulations leave many open questions about whether conditions for life are rare or common in the universe.

Uploaded by

Flavyus06
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How did the Solar System

form?

Is our solar system unique?
Are there other Earth-like
planets, or are we a fluke?
Under what conditions can
Earth-like planets form?
Is life common or rare?
Ways to Find Out

•  Look at our own solar system, and think
about how it might have formed
•  Look at other solar systems while they
form
•  Look for and study other solar systems
•  Create computer models and see if you
can produce a solar system
Ways to Find Out

•  Look at our own solar system, and think
about how it might have formed
•  Look at other solar systems while they
form
•  Look for and study other solar systems
•  Create computer models and see if you
can produce a solar system

Solar System Geometry

•  Terrestrial planets closer than gas/water giants


•  Planets get smaller beyond Jupiter
•  Most planets orbit in the same plane
•  Some small bodies are tilted

Summary of Planetary Interiors

Summary (Things a formation theory must
explain)

• The sun, with most of the system
mass
• Giant planets with solid cores (far from
sun)
• Terrestrial planets (close to sun)
• Most planets orbit in a flat plane
• Many planets have moons

Our theory

•  Solar system formation begins because of
gravity - most stuff ends up in the sun
•  A disk is formed because of rotation
•  Planet cores form in the disk because
rocks hit and/or gravitationally attract each
other
•  If there’s ice around (> 5 AU from the star,
where it’s cold) the cores are bigger. If big
enough, they’ll suck gas out of the disk and
form giant planets
•  Moons form via collision or capture or in mini
disks

Why might material in clouds collapse to form
stars?

What force keeps clouds from collapsing?



Why might material in clouds collapse to form
stars?

gas pressure

pushes out

(like in a balloon)

What force keeps clouds from collapsing?



Why might material in clouds collapse to form
stars?

What force helps clouds collapse?



Why might material in clouds collapse to form
stars?

gravity pulls inwards


What force helps clouds collapse?



If the cloud is big and cold, gravity will win
out and the cloud will collapse.

gravity pulls inwards



The cloud is spinning.

What happens as it collapses?

(Think of the water in your bathtub drain)

gravity pulls inwards



The cloud spins faster and faster, until it can t

support itself, and flattens out (think pizza dough)

Lucky for us, this is the perfect way to form a solar
system.

disk = future solar system
blob = future sun

Formation basics

Ways to Find Out

•  Look at our own solar system, and think
about how it might have formed
•  Look at other solar systems while they
form
•  Look for and study other solar systems
•  Create computer models and see if you
can produce a solar system

Stars form in Dense Clouds of
Dust and Gas

What do we mean by dust? What do we mean by gas?



The Orion Nebula

Disks really exist!

Disks really exist!

Young stars have asteroid belts
and Kuiper belts

but notice how much bigger this is than the solar system!

In reality, disks are very hard to image.

Why do you think this is?

In reality, disks are very hard to image.

Why do you think this is?

So we usually use spectroscopy to study disks.

Here s what stars



look like with a

spectrograph.

What would it

look like with

a disk around it?

In reality, disks are very hard to image.

Why do you think this is?

So we usually use spectroscopy to study disks.

Here s what stars



look like with a

spectrograph.

What would it

look like with

a disk around it?

Disks produce infrared light (just like planets)



Our theory: What do we think now?

•  Solar system formation begins because of
gravity - most stuff ends up in the sun
•  A disk is formed because of rotation
•  Planet cores form in the disk because
rocks hit and/or gravitationally attract each
other
•  If there’s ice around (> 5 AU from the star,
where it’s cold) the cores are bigger. If big
enough, they’ll suck gas out of the disk and
form giant planets
•  Moons form via collision or capture or in mini
disks

Ways to Find Out

•  Look at our own solar system, and think
about how it might have formed
•  Look at other solar systems while they
form
•  Look for and study other solar systems
•  Create computer models and see if you
can produce a solar system

Ways to Find Out

•  Look at our own solar system, and think
about how it might have formed
•  Look at other solar systems while they
form
•  Look for and study other solar systems
•  Create computer models and see if you
can produce a solar system

http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~microfun/ob06109/

Ways to Find Out

•  Look at our own solar system, and think
about how it might have formed
•  Look at other solar systems while they
form
•  Look for and study other solar systems
•  Create computer models and see if you
can produce a solar system

Our theory: What do we think now?

•  Solar system formation begins because of
gravity - most stuff ends up in the sun
•  A disk is formed because of rotation
•  Planet cores form in the disk because
rocks hit and/or gravitationally attract each
other
•  If there’s ice around (> 5 AU from the star,
where it’s cold) the cores are bigger. If big
enough, they’ll suck gas out of the disk and
form giant planets
•  Moons form via collision or capture or in mini
disks

How do you design a computer
simulation?

Why can’t we make a huge computer simulation
to explain everything?

What models would you create?

A model of planets

growing in a disk.

Some things we’ve learned from models:

Our basic theory holds up pretty well, but...


It’s hard to get little particles to stick to each other when



they collide.

It takes a really, really long time to make planets (maybe



too long??)

It’s hard to form planetary systems as flat as ours.



Solar System Formation: Take-away messages

Theory:

•  Solar system formation begins because of gravity - most stuff ends up
in the sun
•  A disk is formed because of rotation
•  Planet cores form in the disk because rocks hit and/or gravitationally
attract each other
•  If there s ice around (> 5 AU from the star, where it s cold) the cores
are bigger. If big enough, they ll suck gas out of the disk and form
giant planets
•  Moons form via collision or capture or in mini disks

Observations generally agree with theory, but it’s hard to see details. They also
show us that stars and disks are all very different from each other. And, they
gave us the surprising observation of outflows.

Simulations also agree with theory, but they can’t model everything at once, and
there are some problems (things take too long, for one)

Is our solar system unique?
Are there other Earth-like planets, or
are we a fluke?
Under what conditions can Earth-like
planets form?
Is life common or rare?

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