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Magnetism Crucial in Solar System Formation, Study Suggests
Developing
In Short: New research indicates that magnetism, alongside gravity, played a key role in the formation of the solar system.
Scientists have discovered that magnetism and gravity worked together to form the solar system, according to a study published in Science News.
Meteorites, which date back to the time before the sun's formation, contain evidence of the magnetic forces at play in the early solar system.
These ancient rocks suggest that a powerful magnetic field was present in the turbulent cloud of gas and dust from which the solar system emerged.
The findings challenge the previous understanding that gravity alone was responsible for the formation of planetary systems.
The research also suggests that a solar system-wide magnetic field existed even before the sun was fully formed.
This new insight could help explain the formation of not just our solar system, but also countless other planetary systems in the Milky Way and beyond.
What's still developing
- Meteorites hold a record of the forces at work 4.5 billion years ago before the sun formed Clouds of gas and dust, like the one in this Hubble Space Telescope image, are the birthplaces of planetary systems.
- Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Before the sun fully formed, tiny bits of rock were already recording the magnetic forces present in the very early solar system.