View example sentences, synonyms and word forms for Planetesimal.
Planetesimal meaning
Any of many small, solid astronomical objects that orbit a star and form protoplanets through mutual gravitational attraction.
Synonyms of Planetesimal
Example sentences (6)
After the planetesimal solidified, it broke up in a collision with another planetesimal.
As with the Earth, the denser metal separated from silicate material and sank toward the center of the planetesimal, forming its core.
Early in the Solar System's history, Mercury may have been struck by a planetesimal of approximately 1/6 that mass and several thousand kilometers across.
Like other members of the Kuiper belt, Pluto is thought to be a residual planetesimal ; a component of the original protoplanetary disc around the Sun that failed to fully coalesce into a full-fledged planet.
The gravitational repercussions of such a resonance ultimately destabilized the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, causing them to be scattered outward onto high-eccentricity orbits that crossed the primordial planetesimal disc.
The remaining planets then continue their migration until the planetesimal disc in nearly depleted with small fractions remaining in various locations.