Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

The Early Solar System’s Magnetic Field Sped Planet Formation

posted by n1 on Thursday November 20 2014, @02:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the force-is-strong dept.

AnonTechie writes with an article from Ars Technica:

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

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Early Solar System’s Magnetic Field Sped Planet Formation | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 4 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 20 2014, @02:56AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 20 2014, @02:56AM (#117966)

    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

      by morgauxo (2082) on Thursday November 20 2014, @03:09AM (#117972)

      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 frojack (1554) on Thursday November 20 2014, @06:22AM (#118017) Journal

    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

      by sudo rm -rf (2357) on Thursday November 20 2014, @11:01AM (#118065) Journal

      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):

      He and his colleagues chose to analyze the Semarkona meteorite because of its reputation as a pristine sample from the early solar system.
      “This thing has the unusual advantage of being unaltered, but also happens to be a really excellent magnetic recording device,” Weiss says. “When it formed, it formed the right kind of metal. Many things, even though pristine, didn’t form the right magnetic recording properties. So this thing is really high-fidelity.”