Cosmology Today
Abstract
After a brief examination of the historically important but long since refuted nebula theory of Laplace and the two-star interaction theories of Jeans and Jeffreys, attention is turned to four recent theories concerning the origin of planetary systems. The four theories examined individually are: (1) Cameron's solar nebula theory (1978), which suggests that the solar nebular cloud may be compressed when it moves into a spiral arm of a galaxy and that the actual process of collapse may be triggered off by a nearby supernova explosion; (2) the Schmidt-Lyttleton accretion theory which proposes that the sun, after passing through a dust cloud, acquired an envelope of gas and dust within which planets would form by accretion; (3) McCrea's floccule theory (1960) in which the process of planetary formation is directly linked to the process by which a whole cluster of stars is formed; and (4) the author's own tidal interaction capture theory (1964) wherein a passing star provides the planetary material which is captured by the sun. These theories are then compared and contrasted, and their major strengths and weaknesses are analyzed.
- Publication:
-
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- June 1979
- Bibcode:
- 1979QJRAS..20...97W
- Keywords:
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- Cosmology;
- Planetary Evolution;
- Solar System;
- Deposition;
- Flocculating;
- Planetary Systems;
- Protoplanets;
- Astrophysics