Planet formation Content

Aluminum Isotope in the Early Solar System

Andy Fell — September 05, 2023 - 11:02am

A little over four and a half billion years ago, dust circling our young sun was collecting into balls that would become planets. Heat from radioactive decay melted these balls of dust into blobs of molten rock, growing as they accumulated more material. A small piece of one of these molten objects broke away and traveled around the solar system for eons before falling to Earth as a meteorite in the Algerian desert. Now, very accurate dating of this meteorite is giving new insight into the formation of the Solar System.

Understanding Super-Earth Waterworlds

Andy Fell — August 08, 2022 - 10:30am

Of the thousands of exoplanets so far discovered in our galaxy, the most common type is one that isn’t found in our solar system: a “super-Earth,” larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. Many of these super-Earths are expected to be rocky with a large proportion of water, some of them very hot because they orbit close to their stars.

Martian Meteorite Upsets Planet Formation Theory

Andy Fell — June 16, 2022 - 11:00am

A new study of an old meteorite contradicts current thinking about how rocky planets like the Earth and Mars acquire volatile elements such as hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and noble gases as they form. The work is published June 16 in Science.

Deep Mantle Krypton Reveals Earth’s Outer Solar System Ancestry

Andy Fell — December 15, 2021 - 10:00am

Krypton from the Earth’s mantle, collected from geologic hot spots in Iceland and the Galapagos Islands, reveals a clearer picture of how our planet formed, according to new research from the University of California, Davis.

Meteorites Show Transport of Material in Early Solar System

Andy Fell — September 08, 2020 - 3:05pm

New studies of a rare type of meteorite show that material from close to the sun reached the outer solar system even as the planet Jupiter cleared a gap in the disk of dust and gas from which the planets formed. The results, published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, add to an emerging understanding of how our solar system formed and how planets form around other stars.

Understanding Matter at Atom-Crushing Densities

Anonymous — August 10, 2020 - 6:42pm

University of California, Davis, will be part of a new National Science Foundation Physics Frontier Center focusing on understanding the physics and astrophysical implications of matter under pressures so high that the structure of individual atoms is disrupted.

Professor Discusses Significance of Moon Landing on 51�ԹϺ�� Davis Live Friday

Amy E Rafferty — July 11, 2019 - 8:37am

51�ԹϺ�� Davis Professor Sarah Stewart, an expert on planet formation, will discuss the significance of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing on 51�ԹϺ�� Davis Live at 2:30 p.m. PDT Friday (July 12). You can listen to the discussion and ask her questions live here.

Mantle Neon Illuminates Earth’s Formation

Andy Fell — December 05, 2018 - 11:19am

The Earth formed relatively quickly from the cloud of dust and gas around the sun, trapping water and gases in the planet’s mantle, according to research published Dec. 5 in the journal Nature. Apart from settling Earth’s origins, the work could help in identifying extrasolar systems that could support habitable planets.

Scientist Who Studies How Planets Form Named MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellow

Andy Fell — October 04, 2018 - 1:53pm

The MacArthur Foundation has named Sarah T. Stewart, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Davis, who has developed novel theories about the formation of the Earth and moon, among the 2018 class of MacArthur Fellows. Sometimes known as the “Genius Grants,” the MacArthur Fellowship is a $625,000 award to extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential.

How the Moon Formed Inside a Vaporized Earth Synestia

Andy Fell — February 28, 2018 - 1:49pm

A new explanation for the moon’s origin has it forming inside the Earth when our planet was a seething, spinning cloud of vaporized rock, called a synestia. The new model led by researchers at the University of California, Davis, and Harvard University resolves several problems in lunar formation and is published Feb. 28 in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Planets.