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MMP41

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MMP41

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jafasoh293
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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This article is about the astronomical object. For other uses, see Planet (disambiguation).

The eight planets of the Solar System with size


to scale (up to down, left to right): Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune (outer
planets), Earth, Venus, Mars, and Mercury (inner planets)
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar
remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself.[1] The Solar System has eight planets by the most restrictive defini-
tion of the term: the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and the giant
planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular
hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young protostar orbited by
a protoplanetary disk. Planets grow in this disk by the gradual accumulation of material driven by gravity, a
process called accretion.

The word planet comes from the Greek πλανήται (planḗtai) 'wanderers'. In antiquity, this word referred to
the Sun, Moon, and five points of light visible to the naked eye that moved across the background of the stars—
namely, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Planets have historically had religious associations: multiple
cultures identified celestial bodies with gods, and these connections with mythology and folklore persist in the
schemes for naming newly discovered Solar System bodies. Earth itself was recognized as a planet
when heliocentrism supplanted geocentrism during the 16th and 17th centuries.

With the development of the telescope, the meaning of planet broadened to include objects only visible with assis-
tance: the moons of the planets beyond Earth; the ice giants Uranus and Neptune; Ceres and other bodies later
recognized to be part of the asteroid belt; and Pluto, later found to be the largest member of the collection of icy
bodies known as the Kuiper belt. The discovery of other large objects in the Kuiper belt, particularly Eris, spurred
debate about how exactly to define a planet. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted a defini-
tion of a planet in the Solar System, placing the four terrestrial planets and the four giant planets in the planet cate-
gory; Ceres, Pluto, and Eris are in the category of dwarf planet.[2][3][4] Many planetary scientists have nonetheless
continued to apply the term planet more broadly, including dwarf planets as well as rounded satellites like the
Moon.[5]

Further advances in astronomy led to the discovery of over five thousand planets outside the Solar System,
termed exoplanets. These often show unusual features that the Solar System planets do not show, such as hot
Jupiters—giant planets that orbit close to their parent stars, like 51 Pegasi b—and extremely eccentric orbits, such
as HD 20782 b. The discovery of brown dwarfs and planets larger than Jupiter also spurred debate on the defini-
tion, regarding where exactly to draw the line between a planet and a star. Multiple exoplanets have been found to
orbit in the habitable zones of their stars (where liquid water can potentially exist on a planetary surface), but Earth
remains the only planet known to support life.

Formation
Main article: Nebular hypothesis
Artists' impressions
A protoplanetary disk

Protoplanets colliding during planet formation


It is not known with certainty how planets are formed. The prevailing theory is that they coalesce during the col-
lapse of a nebula into a thin disk of gas and dust. A protostar forms at the core, surrounded by a rotat-
ing protoplanetary disk. Through accretion (a process of sticky collision) dust particles in the disk steadily accumu-
late mass to form ever-larger bodies. Local concentrations of mass known as planetesimals form, and these accel-
erate the accretion process by drawing in additional material by their gravitational attraction. These concentrations
become ever denser until they collapse inward under gravity to form protoplanets.[6] After a planet reaches a mass
somewhat larger than Mars's mass, it begins to accumulate an extended atmosphere,[7] greatly increasing the cap-
ture rate of the planetesimals by means of atmospheric drag.[8][9] Depending on the accretion history of solids and
gas, a giant planet, an ice giant, or a terrestrial planet may result.[10][11][12] It is thought that the regular satellites of
Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus formed in a similar way;[13][14] however, Triton was likely captured by Neptune,[15] and
Earth's Moon[16] and Pluto's Charon might have formed in collisions.[17]

When the protostar has grown such that it ignites to form a star, the surviving disk is removed from the inside out-
ward by photoevaporation, the solar wind, Poynting–Robertson drag and other effects.[18][19] Thereafter there still
may be many protoplanets orbiting the star or each other, but over time many will collide, either to form a larger,
combined protoplanet or release material for other protoplanets to absorb.[20] Those objects that have become mas-
sive enough will capture most matter in their orbital neighbourhoods to become planets. Protoplanets that have
avoided collisions may become natural satellites of planets through a process of gravitational capture, or remain in
belts of other objects to become either dwarf planets or small bodies.[21][22]
Supernova remnant ejecta producing planet-forming material
The energetic impacts of the smaller planetesimals (as well as radioactive decay) will heat up the growing planet,
causing it to at least partially melt. The interior of the planet begins to differentiate by density, with higher density
materials sinking toward the core.[23] Smaller terrestrial planets lose most of their atmospheres because of this ac-
cretion, but the lost gases can be replaced by outgassing from the mantle and from the subsequent impact
of comets[24] (smaller planets will lose any atmosphere they gain through various escape mechanisms[25]).

With the discovery and observation of planetary systems around stars other than the Sun, it is becoming possible
to elaborate, revise or even replace this account. The level of metallicity—an astronomical term describing the
abundance of chemical elements with an atomic number greater than 2 (helium)—appears to determine the likeli-
hood that a star will have planets.[26][27] Hence, a metal-rich population I star is more likely to have a substantial
planetary system than a metal-poor, population II star.[28]

Planets in the Solar System


Main article: Solar System

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