The Birth and Evolution of Planets (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

The Birth and Evolution of Planets

Caption

The three different key cases of planets forming in a disk. The first is a violent version that produces eccentric and "hot" Jupiters, which the authors suggest are typical. The second is the "barren" version, also typical, in which nothing bigger than Neptune grows. The third is an in between case, where the conditions are just right, when results end up looking like our own Solar System. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Aug. 8, 2008, issue of the journal Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. Edward Thommes and colleagues at the University of Guelph in Guelph, ON, Canada was titled "Gas Disks to Gas Giants: Simulating the Birth of Planetary Systems."

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Image courtesy of Science/AAAS

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