Solar System Formation

Solar System Formation
Solar System Formation

Question: How did our solar system and other planetary systems form?
“Comparative planetology” has helped us understand
• Compare the differences and similarities among the objects in our solar system
• Figure out what physical processes could have led to them
• Then construct a model of how our solar system formed based on this
-------
• This model must explain our own solar system…
• …but might or might not explain other planetary systems
• If not, modify the model to accommodate discrepancies
• That is the scientific process
• Let’s look at the solar system characteristics comparative planetology has to work with…
Solar System Formation -- Characteristics of Our Solar System
1. Large bodies have orderly motions and are isolated from each other
– All planets and most moons have nearly circular orbits going in the same
direction in nearly the same plane
– The Sun and most of the planets rotate in this same direction as well
– Most moons orbit their planet in the direction it rotates
2. Planets fall into two main categories
– Small, rocky terrestrial planets near the

Sun
– Large, hydrogen-rich jovian planets far

from the Sun

3. Swarms of asteroids and comets populate the solar system

– Asteroids are concentrated in the asteroid belt

– Comets populate the regions known as the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud
4. Several notable exceptions to these general trends stand out

– Planets with unusual axis tilts
– Surprisingly large moons
– Moons with unusual orbits
…which any successful theory must account for…
1. Large bodies in the solar system have orderly motions and are isolated from each
other
– Small, rocky terrestrial planets near the Sun
– Large, hydrogen-rich jovian planets farther out
• The jovian planets have many moons and rings of rock and ice
– Comets populate the regions known as the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud
4. Several notable exceptions to these general trends stand out
Solar System Formation – The Nebular Theory
• The nebular theory is the best current explanation of our solar system
• It is not a new idea…
• …some well-known 18th-century philosophers suggested it:
– Emanuel Swedenborg
– Immanuel Kant
• Like all scientific theories, it is still being refined and improved
• It starts with cold interstellar clouds of gas and dust

• These clouds are mostly hydrogen and helium from the Big Bang
• But they contain heavier elements that were not formed in the Big Bang
• Astronomers call these “metals” (even though they’re not necessarily classified as such)
• Where did these heavier elements come from?
• They came from stars!
• Stars make heavier elements from lighter ones through nuclear fusion
• The heavy elements (the “metals”) mix into the interstellar medium when the stars die
• New stars form from the enriched gas and dust, and the cycle continues
• New stars form from the enriched gas and dust, and the cycle continues
• And at the same time stars are forming …planetary systems can form
• Here’s how it works…
• A large cloud -- a nebula perhaps 1 light year across -- floats in space


• The cloud begins to collapse …WHY?... Local density increase

• The cloud begins to collapse -- local density increase
Conservation of angular
• As it collapses it begins to spin faster …WHY?...
momentum

• As it collapses it begins to spin faster -- conservation of angular momentum
• And as it spins faster, it flattens out …WHY?... Collision and motion effects

• And as it spins faster, it flattens out -- collision and motion effects
• At the same time, it begins to heat up in the center …WHY?...
Conversion of gravitational
potential energy into thermal
energy

• And as it spins faster, it flattens out -- collision and motion effects
• At the same time, it begins to heat up in the center -- conversion of potential to thermal energy
• When it gets hot enough, a star forms in the center
• And in the disk around the forming star, planets can form
• What type of planets can form depends on what the cloud is made of
• This is what our own cloud—the solar nebula—was made of

• But how do we know this?
• This is what our own cloud—the solar nebula—was made of

• But how do we know this? This is how…
• …the absorption line spectrum of the Sun
• It tells us the composition of the gas on the surface of the Sun
• This is the composition of the Sun’s surface gas – its atmosphere

• We think the solar nebula had the same composition
• But is it reasonable to say this?
• After all, the solar nebula collapsed 4.6 billion years ago
• The Sun’s been making new atoms with nuclear fusion ever since
• Wouldn’t this change the composition of the Sun’s atmosphere?
• The answer has to do with where the new atoms are being made…
• The fusion reactions making new atoms generate the energy that gives us sunlight
• The critical question is, Where are these fusion reactions taking place?
– The answer: In its core
– And that’s in the Sun’s center, far from the surface
• So the surface layers should be essentially unchanged
• And their composition should be very similar to the solar nebula
• So it seems reasonable to say that the composition of Sun’s atmosphere is the same as the
composition of the solar nebula
• The key to the nebular theory is the condensation temperature of these materials, at which
they will condense into solid form
• The nebula was initially very cold, so everything except H and He was in solid form
• But it heated up as it collapsed…
• …and the temperature was different at different distances from the center
• This graph shows a modeled temperature profile of

the solar nebula
• The temperature was hottest in the center, and went
down away from the center
• There was a mixture of metals, rocks, and hydrogen
compounds throughout the nebula
• These could only be solid where the temperature
was below their condensation temperature
• So different chemical components of the nebula
condensed at different distances
• A mixture of solid rock and metal existed out to about
4.5 AU from the center
• At 4.5 AU, the temperature dropped low enough for
hydrogen compounds to condense, too
• The boundary between where they could and could
not condense is called the “frost line”, “snow line”, or
“ice line”
• The frost line was located between the present-day orbits of Mars and Jupiter
• Once materials condense into solid form they can stick together
• This is called “accretion”
• And it launches the next step in planet formation…
• “Core accretion”
• Small clumps grow like
snowballs until they
become planetesimals
the size of moons
• The planetesimals collide
and coalesce until
planets are born
• This suffices to explain
terrestrial planet
formation, but jovian
planets require adding an
extra layer to the
process...literally
• Jovian planets also begin
by core accretion
• But this happens in the
outer solar system,
beyond the frost line,
where there is 3x more
solid material available
• So the cores get much
bigger (10-15 times the
mass of Earth)
• Unlike terrestrials, the jovian

cores gather gas from the
nebula and retain it
• This is because:
• They are more massive…
• stronger gravity
• It is colder…
• lower escape speeds
for gas
• The result is a “gas giant” -- a
jovian planet
• There is an alternative to the core accretion model

• “disk-instability"
• Cool gas beyond the frost line collapses directly into jovian planets
• This takes much less time than the "core-accretion model"
• And this makes it consistent with claims that some jovians form faster than would be
possible by core-accretion
• It is not known for certain whether jovian planets form by core accretion or disk instability
• Perhaps they form one way in some circumstances and the other way in others
• The main difference is in the way the process begins
• Once it starts, the nebular gas swirls in an accretion disk around the growing jovian
planet
• In that accretion disk, moons would form around the jovian planet like planets formed in
the solar nebula around the Sun
• The process of jovian

and terrestrial planet
formation was finalized
by the infant Sun
• As the Sun became a
star, a strong solar wind
blew out from it
• This cleared the
remaining nebular gas
away
• And this halted the
growth of the planets
from the solar nebula`
A successful theory must explain our solar system
So how does this one do?

How Does the Nebular Theory Do?
• Large bodies in the solar system have orderly motions and are isolated from each
other :
• Planets fall into two main categories:
– Small, rocky terrestrial planets near the Sun
• No rings and few, if any, moons
– Large, hydrogen-rich jovian planets farther out
• Rings of rock and ice and many moons
• Swarms of asteroids and comets populate the solar system:
– Comets in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud
• Several notable exceptions to these general trends stand out:
• Large bodies in the solar system have orderly motions and are isolated from each
other:
The planets and moons orbit in the direction that the solar nebula was
spinning
Conservation of angular momentum
Conservation of angular momentum
• Large bodies in the solar system have orderly motions and are isolated from each other

– Large, hydrogen-rich jovian planets far from the Sun, with rings of rock and ice
and many moons
– Small, rocky terrestrial planets near the Sun with no rings and few, if any, moons

– Large, hydrogen-rich jovian planets far from the Sun, with rings of rock and ice
and many moons
Outside the frost line, lower temperatures led to condensation of hydrogen
compounds (ices) along with metals and rocks
Cores large enough to capture gas could form
Moons made of rock and ice formed in the swirling jovian nebula around each
growing jovian planet
Rings appear when some of those moons get torn apart by tidal forces
– Small, rocky terrestrial planets near the Sun with no rings and few, if any, moons
Inside the frost line, higher temperatures meant that only metals and rocks
could condense, providing less than 1/3 as much material and leading to small,
rocky cores
The smaller cores and higher temperatures prevented gas capture, and moon
and ring formation
• Planets fall into two main categories

– Asteroids mainly in the asteroid belt
• The asteroids in the asteroid belt are a “frustrated planet”

• The Trojan asteroids are planetesimals that became locked in gravitational
"wells" caused by the gravity of Jupiter and the Sun


• The icy planetesimals that formed beyond the frost line near Jupiter and Saturn
were thrown in random orbits, forming the Oort Cloud

• Those that formed beyond Neptune were relatively unaffected, and make up the
Kuiper Belt

• Those that formed near Uranus and Neptune were flung into the inner solar
system, and some provided water for Earth and other terrestrial planets
• Several notable exceptions to these general trends stand out:

Unusual (backward) orbits indicate captured objects
The unusual axis tilts can be explained by giant impacts during
the “Era of Heavy Bombardment”
• The “surprisingly large moon” is our own

• It is unlikely that it formed at the same time as Earth
because its density is lower
• But Earth is too small to have captured it
• It too can be explained by a giant impact
Summary of Nebular Theory
• There was a huge nebula of gas (H and He) and dust (metal, rock, and hydrogen
compounds)
• There was a huge nebula of gas (H and He) and dust (metal, rock, and hydrogen compounds)
• Initially the nebula was very cold, and all of the dust was in the form of solid particles
• The nebula began to contract, spin faster and faster, flatten out, and heat up
• As it heated, the dust particles vaporized
• The nebula was hottest in the center
• The farther away from the center, the cooler it got
• Different types of dust resolidified at different distances from the center depending on
their condensation temperatures
• Different types of dust resolidified at different distances from the center depending on their condensation temperatures
• Close to the center only rock and metal dust was able to condense
• Far from the center, beyond the “frost line”, hydrogen compounds could also condense
• The solid particles stuck together (“accreted”), forming bigger and bigger clumps until
they were the size of planets
• The solid particles stuck together (“accreted”), forming bigger and bigger clumps until they were the size of planets
• Inside the frost line, where only rock and metal could condense, small terrestrial planets
formed
• Inside the frost line, where only rock and metal could condense, small terrestrial planets formed
• Beyond the frost line, hydrogen compounds as well as rock and metal could condense,
and much larger jovian planet cores could form
• Beyond the frost line, hydrogen compounds as well as rock and metal could condense, and much larger jovian planet cores
could form
• The jovian cores were massive enough, and the temperatures cold enough, to attract
and retain gas from the surrounding nebula, becoming our “gas giant” planets
could form
• The jovian cores were massive enough, and the temperatures cold enough, to attract and retain gas from the surrounding
nebula, becoming our “gas giant” planets
• When the Sun matured into a star, the solar wind blew out the remaining gas and
arrested the development of the planets
could form
• When the Sun matured into a star, the solar wind blew out the remaining gas and arrested the development of the planets
• Planetesimals still remained, and these collected into the asteroid belt, Kuiper belt, or
Oort cloud—or were captured by planets as moons—or collided with the planets, in
some cases altering their axis tilts
could form
• When the Sun matured into a star, it emitted a strong solar wind that blew out the remaining gas and arrested the development
of the planets
• Planetesimals still remained, and these collected into the asteroid belt, Kuiper belt, or Oort cloud—or were captured by planets
as moons—or collided with the planets, in some cases altering their axis tilts
When did all this happen, and how do we know?
• It was 4.6 billion years ago that our solar system formed
• But how do we know this?...
• From radiometric dating, using radioactive isotopes
• Every element exists as a mixture of isotopes
• Some isotopes, like 14C, are radioactive

• Every radioactive isotope has its own half-life
• If a sample has a certain amount of radioactivity, after one half-life it will have half as
much
• With radiometric dating, you estimate the initial amount of radioactivity in a sample,
and determine its age from the amount that’s left
When did all this happen?
• Carbon-14 (14C) provides a familiar example of

radiometric dating
• It’s used to date mummies, archaeological artifacts, and
the like
• The diagram shows how it works…
• 14C is useful for dating things up to ~60,000 years old
• But its half-life of ~5700 years is too short to be useful

in measuring the age of our solar system
• One isotope whose half-life is long enough is potassium-40 (40K)

• 40K decays to argon-40 (40Ar) with a half-life of 1.25 billion years
• 40K is found in rock along with 40Ar from its decay
• If the rock is melted, the 40Ar escapes as a gas
• When the rock cools and resolidifies, it contains 40K, but no 40Ar
http://archserve.id.ucsb.edu/courses/anth/fagan/anth3/courseware/Chronology/movies/Melting.html
• One isotope whose half-life is long enough is potassium-40 (40K)

• 40K decays to argon-40 (40Ar) with a half-life of 1.25 billion years
• 40K is found in rock along with 40Ar from its decay
• If the rock is melted, the 40Ar escapes as a gas

• When the rock cools and resolidifies, it contains 40K, but no 40Ar
• So by measuring the ratio of 40Ar to 40K in a piece of rock, you can determine how long
it’s been since the rock solidified
• How can 40K be used to date the formation of the solar system?
• The solar system formed from the solar nebula, a vast cloud of gas and (solid) dust
• The solid (cold) dust particles initially contained both 40K and 40Ar
• But as the nebula contracted and heated, the dust vaporized, and the 40Ar was released
• When the dust condensed to solid form again, it contained 40K, but not 40Ar
• If rocks accreted from this dust could be found unchanged, their age would be the age of the
solar system
• This is a type of meteorite called a “chondrite”

• Chondrites have not melted since they accreted
from the nebular dust when the solar system
formed
• So whatever 40Ar they contain has appeared
since then
• How can 40K be used to date the formation of the solar system?
• The solar system formed from the solar nebula, a vast cloud of gas and (solid) dust
• The solid (cold) dust particles initially contained both 40K and 40Ar
• But as the nebula contracted and heated, the dust vaporized, and the 40Ar was released
• When the dust condensed to solid form again, it contained 40K, but not 40Ar
• If rocks accreted from this dust could be found unchanged, their age would be the age of the
solar system
• This is a type of meteorite called a “chondrite”

• Chondrites have not melted since they accreted
from the nebular dust when the solar system
formed
• So whatever 40Ar they contain has appeared
since then
• Radiometric dating using 40Ar/40K shows that
chondrites formed 4.6 billion years ago
• The age determined using other isotopes is
similar, and this gives us confidence that it is
correct
Is ours the only solar system?
• Observation of other stars reveals many of them surrounded by disks of dust and gas
• These protoplanetary disks are exactly what the nebular theory predicts
• But until the 1990s, there was no convincing evidence for planets around other stars, now called
extrasolar planets or exoplanets
• As of today, nearly 3500 exoplanets have been confirmed
Detecting Extrasolar Planets by Radial Velocity
• The first extrasolar planets were found by the radial velocity technique
• This technique depends on the gravitational effect of a planet on its star
• This image shows what would happen

if Jupiter and the Sun were the only
objects in our solar system
• They both would orbit around their

common center of mass
• In a system with more than one planet, the star’s

movement can be complicated
• This image shows the path of the Sun around the
solar system’s center of mass
• The motion is mainly due to the effects of Jupiter
and Saturn, because they are so massive
• Other stars are affected similarly by their planets
• This back-and-forth motion of the star along the line of sight from Earth causes Doppler-shifting
of its light
• And this can be detected in a light curve
• After recording the light curve, computer modeling is used
to determine how many and what type of planets are there
• This light curve led to the discovery of the first planet
orbiting a Sun-like star – 51 Pegasi
• It is fairly simple, and is consistent with a single planet
• The period of the wobbling gives you the orbital period and
distance (~0.05AU…how?)
• The magnitude gives you the minimum mass of the planet
(~.5MJupiter…how?)
• This light curve is more complicated

• This light curve is more complicated
• It is consistent with the triple-planet system at right

Detecting Extrasolar Planets by Transit
• In the transit method (used by the Kepler SpaceTelescope), astronomers look for a periodic
decrease in the light from a star
• The decrease indicates that a planet is transiting the star, blocking some of the starlight
• How often and how much the light decreases gives information about the planet’s orbit and size
• Combining this info with radial velocity info can give the density of the planet
Detecting Extrasolar Planets by Imaging
• Planets do not emit their own light, and so are hard to see in telescopes, but a small number of
extrasolar planets have been found this way
• The red object in the image above is the first of them
• It is orbiting a brown dwarf (the brighter object)
Detecting Extrasolar Planets
• A few exoplanets have been found by gravitational microlensing
• In this method, the light from a distant star is bent by the gravity of an intervening star
• If the intervening star has a planet, the planet’s gravity adds to the effect in a recognizable way
• A statistical analysis of planets detected by this technique led to the prediction that each star in
the Milky Way has ~1.6 planets
• You can see a list of all the known extrasolar planets and more at
The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia
NASA Exoplanet Archive
• At one time, most confirmed exoplanets were very large and very close to their star
• This was not because extrasolar systems more like ours do not exist (they do)
• It was simply a reflection of the methods that are used
• They tend to be more sensitive to large planets close to their star
• But the existence of “hot Jupiters” – jovian planets very close to their star – is not
consistent with the nebular theory we have discussed
• Following the scientific method, we need to see if there is some way the nebular theory
can be modified to account for this
• And there is…
• It’s a matter of timing…

• In our own solar system, the waking Sun expelled all the nebular gas and dust
• The strong solar wind produced when fusion was about to start blew it all away
• But if that hadn’t happened, the planets and the nebular disk would interact…
• …and the planets would migrate inward

• The star still blows the nebula away when it finally comes alive
• But a jovian planet that formed beyond the frost line might find itself, after migration,
closer to its star than Mercury is to our Sun
• And the nebular theory lives to fight another day
TRAPPIST-1
TRAPPIST-1
TRAPPIST-1

Solar System Formation

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Solar System Formation

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Solar System Formation

Solar System Formation

“Comparative planetology” has helped us understand

2. Planets fall into two main categories

– Small, rocky terrestrial planets near the

– Large, hydrogen-rich jovian planets far

2. Planets fall into two main categories

3. Swarms of asteroids and comets populate the solar system

3. Swarms of asteroids and comets populate the solar system

4. Several notable exceptions to these general trends stand out

• It starts with cold interstellar clouds of gas and dust

• A large cloud -- a nebula perhaps 1 light year across -- floats in space

• A large cloud -- a nebula perhaps 1 light year across -- floats in space

• A large cloud -- a nebula perhaps 1 light year across -- floats in space

• A large cloud -- a nebula perhaps 1 light year across -- floats in space

• A large cloud -- a nebula perhaps 1 light year across -- floats in space

• A large cloud -- a nebula perhaps 1 light year across -- floats in space

• This is what our own cloud—the solar nebula—was made of

• This is what our own cloud—the solar nebula—was made of

• This is the composition of the Sun’s surface gas – its atmosphere

• This graph shows a modeled temperature profile of

• Unlike terrestrials, the jovian

• There is an alternative to the core accretion model

• The process of jovian

So how does this one do?

• Planets fall into two main categories:

• Planets fall into two main categories:

• Swarms of asteroids and comets populate the solar system:

• The asteroids in the asteroid belt are a “frustrated planet”

• Swarms of asteroids and comets populate the solar system:

• Swarms of asteroids and comets populate the solar system:

• Swarms of asteroids and comets populate the solar system:

• Swarms of asteroids and comets populate the solar system:

• Several notable exceptions to these general trends stand out:

• The “surprisingly large moon” is our own

• Some isotopes, like 14C, are radioactive

• Carbon-14 (14C) provides a familiar example of

• But its half-life of ~5700 years is too short to be useful

• One isotope whose half-life is long enough is potassium-40 (40K)

• One isotope whose half-life is long enough is potassium-40 (40K)

• 40K is found in rock along with 40Ar from its decay

• If the rock is melted, the 40Ar escapes as a gas

• This is a type of meteorite called a “chondrite”

• This is a type of meteorite called a “chondrite”

• This image shows what would happen

• They both would orbit around their

• In a system with more than one planet, the star’s

• This light curve is more complicated

• This light curve is more complicated

• It is consistent with the triple-planet system at right

• A few exoplanets have been found by gravitational microlensing

• It’s a matter of timing…

• …and the planets would migrate inward

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