Solar Nebula Theory
Riley Blair
What?
Solar Nebula Theory! It's a model explaining how our solar system was formed. The most modern version is the Solar Nebular Disk Model. This is the most widely accepted model there is. It is also referred to as Nebular Hypothesis.
What it Says
It all "Star"ts with a Gas Cloud
The Solar Nebular Disk Theory (SNDM) says that stars are formed when the particles in giant, very dense, gravitationally unstable clouds of hydrogen begin to clump together. Then it collapses and forms a star. Sometimes conditions are right for planets to form, but those conditions are not yet fully understood.
Next, clumps of rocky material nearest to the sun start to smush together. These bits contain no water due to the high heat where they were formed. The clumps of rock continue to collide until planet-sized bodies have formed. The new planets then settle into near-stable orbits around the sun.
The Nebular Hypothesis Theory was first theorized sometime in the 18th century by Immanuel Kant, Emanuel Swedenborg, and Pierre-Simon Laplace. During the 20th century, theorists challenged the model and it was slowly revised and improved into the Solar Nebular Disk Model of today. Victor Safronov was a big contributor to the latter.