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planetesimals
2 dictionary results for: planetesimals
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
plan·e·tes·i·mal     (plān'ĭ-těs'ə-məl)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   Any of innumerable small bodies thought to have orbited the sun during the formation of the planets.

[planet + (infinit)esimal.]
plan'e·tes'i·mal adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
planetesimal   (plān'ĭ-těs'ə-məl)  Pronunciation Key 
Any of innumerable small bodies of accreted gas and dust thought to have orbited the Sun during the formation of the planets. ◇ The theory that explains the formation of the solar system in terms of the aggregation of such bodies is known as the planetesimal hypothesis. According to this theory, first proposed in 1900, the planetesimals formed within a spiral disk of dust and gas surrounding a central nucleus. Their gravitational attraction eventually caused the planetesimals to coalesce into protoplanetary disks from which larger objects such as planets, asteroids, and satellites were formed, while the nucleus coalesced into the Sun.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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