Health is wealthOrigin of Mars and Mercury
Scientists have come up with the radical new theory of planet formation, by suggesting that Mars and Mercury were formed from the scraps of Earth and Venus.
Scientists agree that Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed from a wispy disk of gas and dust that ringed the infant sun 4.5 billions year ago. In computer simulations of this process, scientists typically assume that the initial dust particles were distributed evenly in the disk around the sun. If the rocky planets were formed from a homogenous debris disk, they should all be roughly the same size and orbit around the sun in same circular orbits. In reality, Venus and Earth are much more massive than Mars and Mercury.
The theory proposes that the dust disk fragmented into bands of debris at various distances from the sun. According to the scenario, Earth and Venus formed within one particularly thick band, or annulus in the inner solar system. As the young Earth and Venus circled the Sun, they waded through a sea of pebble and mountain size debris. The two planets captured and assimilated some of this debris, but hurled other chunks out of the annulus. Mercury and Mars could have formed from such separated debris.
Scientists agree that Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed from a wispy disk of gas and dust that ringed the infant sun 4.5 billions year ago. In computer simulations of this process, scientists typically assume that the initial dust particles were distributed evenly in the disk around the sun. If the rocky planets were formed from a homogenous debris disk, they should all be roughly the same size and orbit around the sun in same circular orbits. In reality, Venus and Earth are much more massive than Mars and Mercury.
The theory proposes that the dust disk fragmented into bands of debris at various distances from the sun. According to the scenario, Earth and Venus formed within one particularly thick band, or annulus in the inner solar system. As the young Earth and Venus circled the Sun, they waded through a sea of pebble and mountain size debris. The two planets captured and assimilated some of this debris, but hurled other chunks out of the annulus. Mercury and Mars could have formed from such separated debris.
