Formation of the giant planets

Details Formation of the giant planets Formation of the giant planets

Aug 1982

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1982p%26ss...30..755s&link_type=abstract

(IAU, IAMAP, and COSPAR, Joint Meeting on the Origin and Evolution of Planetary Atmospheres, Hamburg, West Germany, Aug. 17, 18,

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

148

Gas Giant Planets, Planetary Composition, Planetary Cores, Planetary Evolution, Planetary Mass, Planetary Temperature, Adiabatic Conditions, Astronomical Models, Convective Heat Transfer, Gravitational Collapse, Luminosity, Natural Satellites, Nebulae, Protoplanets, Thermal Diffusion

Scientific paper

Observational constraints on interior models of the giant planets indicate that these planets were all much hotter when they formed and they all have rock and/or ice cores of ten to thirty earth masses. These cores are probably soluble in the envelopes above, especially in Jupiter and Saturn, and are therefore likely to be primordial. They persist despite the continual upward mixing by thermally driven convection throughout the age of the solar system, because of the inefficiency of double-diffusive convection. Thus, these planets most probably formed by the hydrodynamic collapse of a gaseous envelope onto a core rather than by direct instability of the gaseous solar nebula. Recent calculations by Mizuno (1980) show that this formation mechanism may explain the similarity of giant planet core masses. Problems remain however, and no current model is entirely satisfactory in explaining the properties of the giant planets and simultaneously satisfying the terrestrial planet constraints. Satellite systematics and protoplanetary disk nebulae are also discussed and related to formation conditions.

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