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Comets and the formation of planets

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Abstract

A morphological study of the physical and dynamical processes of planet formation is presented, with emphasis on the intermediary role of comet nuclei. Although guided by a particular model of the evolution of the pre-planetary solar nebula, implying the freezing-out of hydrogen in the region of the giant planets, the derivations and conclusions are of wider import, applicable to other cosmogonic models as well as to certain phases of star formation. The items evaluated physically, dynamically, or statistically comprise: (1) the total number mass of comets in Oort's cloud; (2) a re-evaluation of the diameters and masses of cometary nuclei; (3) the processes of nucleation from gravitational and ‘Boltzmann’ instabilities of gaseous media to agglomerations of particulate matter as conditioned by inbuilt angular momentum; (4) the statistical-dynamical conditions and time scales of orbital interaction of comets with the planets and the consequences of disintegration.

A consistent model proposes the formation of comets and planets in pre-planetary rings of the residual solar nebula, with subsequent ejection, chiefly by Jupiter, of the comets to Oort's sphere. Screening by absorbing matter is not only probable, but necessary to protect the comets from dis-integration during the process of ejection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland

    Ernst J. Öpik

  2. Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, Md., USA

    Ernst J. Öpik

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  1. Ernst J. Öpik
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Paper dedicated to Prof. H. C. Urey on the occasion of his 80th birthday on 29 April, 1973.

This work has been currently supported by grants from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.

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Öpik, E.J. Comets and the formation of planets. Astrophys Space Sci 21, 307–398 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00643104

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00643104

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