One aspect of planetary formation has remained enigmatic. Observations of young star systems indicate that it usually takes less than five million years for the star’s planets to form—perhaps much less. For that to happen, there must be a really efficient mechanism to bring mass into the protoplanetary disk in which the planets form. Gravity alone doesn’t account for it happening so quickly.
Theoretical explanations abound for the fast accretion of material, some of which involve its interactions with a solar system's magnetic field. Until now, there’s been no way to test these models or determine the role of a magnetic field. By examining a meteorite, however, researchers found indications that the magnetic field in the early Solar System was sufficient to account for the short accretion time.
The researchers studied a meteorite called Semarkona - a space rock that crashed in northern India in 1940, which was filled with olivine-bearing chondrules. Chondrules are round grains that form as molten droplets but later accrete into the meteoroid they’re found in.
[Additional Coverage]: http://www.newsledge.com/one-meteorite-tells-us-solar-system-formed-11229
[Abstract]: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2014/11/12/science.1258022
[Source]: https://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/strong-magnetic-field-early-solar-system-1113
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 20 2014, @02:56AM
Holy Fucking Christ, Debian! You've gotten me thinking about systemd so much lately that I read the title as "The Early Solar Systemd’s Magnetic Field Sped Planet Formation".
But I can't remain mad at you forever, Debian. We had many good years together. Yes, you did end up catching a horrible infection that eventually killed you, but we shouldn't let that ruin all of the great times.
(Score: 2) by morgauxo on Thursday November 20 2014, @03:09AM
I like what you did there bringing the title into it. That's probably the best completely off-topic post I have read.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday November 20 2014, @06:22AM
By examining a meteorite, however, researchers found indications that the magnetic field in the early Solar System was sufficient to account for the short accretion time.
There are thousands of metallic meteorites on display around the world, how many of them indicate this early magnetism?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by sudo rm -rf on Thursday November 20 2014, @11:01AM
You're right that one is not statistically relevant, but it's not expected there are many with this one's particular properties (from TFA):