What caused different type of planets to be formed?
The various planets are thought to have formed from the solar nebula, the disc-shaped cloud of gas and dust left over from the Sun’s formation. The currently accepted method by which the planets formed is accretion, in which the planets began as dust grains in orbit around the central protostar.
What is the most important factor in the formation of the solar system?
Approximately 4.6 billion years ago, the solar system was a cloud of dust and gas known as a solar nebula. Gravity collapsed the material in on itself as it began to spin, forming the sun in the center of the nebula. With the rise of the sun, the remaining material began to clump together.
What factors control the geologic evolution of a planet?
What factors control the geologic evolution of a planet? Impact cratering, tectonic activity, and erosion.
What are the two key factors in planet formation?
Two processes are important in planet formation. Condensation is the production of solid dust grains as gases in the molecular cloud cool, and accretion is the collision of the dust grains to form clumps and progressively larger bodies, some of which grow into planets (Figure 10.2).
What are the three major stage of planet formation?
This information helps to guide numerical models for the three stages of planet formation from dust to planetesimals (∼106 y), followed by planetesimals to embryos (lunar to Mars-sized objects; few × 106 y), and finally embryos to planets (107–108 y).
Could Europa have life?
A new study shown by NASA scientists at the Goldschmidt conference this week provides further evidence that Europa’s ocean is habitable and similar to Earth’s oceans. Europa has many cracks in its otherwise smooth surface.
Can Europa sustain life?
Europa’s surface is blasted by radiation from Jupiter. That’s a bad thing for life on the surface – it couldn’t survive. But the radiation may create fuel for life in an ocean below the surface. The radiation splits apart water molecules (H2O, made of oxygen and hydrogen) in Europa’s extremely tenuous atmosphere.
Can we breathe on Ganymede?
In 1996, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope found evidence of a thin oxygen atmosphere. However, it is too thin to support life as we know it; it is unlikely that any living organisms inhabit Ganymede.
Does Europa have oxygen?
Atmosphere: Europa does have an atmosphere, although tenuous. This atmosphere is composed solely of oxygen. Europa’s atmosphere is maintained by charged particles that hit its cold surface and produce water vapor.
How far is Europa from Earth in light years?
628.3 million km
Which moon can support life?
In the Solar System
| Name | System | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Enceladus | Saturn | Enceladus – potential habitability |
| Titan | Saturn | Colonization of Titan |
| Callisto | Jupiter | Callisto – potential habitability |
| Ganymede | Jupiter | Ganymede – Subsurface oceans |
Why is Europa red?
The startling colour is due to contaminating minerals rising from beneath the icy crust, possibly salts from the underground ocean. The regions of mottled red are chaotic terrain, parts of the moon’s surface with disrupted icy material that has been broken and shifted around.
How cold is it on Europa?
On Europa, temperatures range from as high as about 140 Kelvin (about -210 degrees Fahrenheit) in dark material at the moon’s equator to as low as about 50 Kelvin (-370 degrees Fahrenheit) in bright icy patches at the moon’s poles.
What is so special about Europa?
Europa is the smallest of the four but it is one of the more intriguing satellites. The surface of Europa is frozen, covered with a layer of ice, but scientists think there is an ocean beneath the surface. The icy surface also makes the moon one of the most reflective in the solar system.
How cold is it on Titan?
The surface of Titan is one of the most Earthlike places in the solar system, albeit at vastly colder temperatures and with different chemistry. Here it is so cold (-290 degrees Fahrenheit or -179 degrees Celsius) that water ice plays the role of rock.
Is the water on Europa drinkable?
The best places to look for life are where the ocean overlies warm rock. This may be the case inside Europa (Jupiter) and Enceladus (Saturn), but chemical reactions with the rock would make the liquid water salty, so not good to drink.