Formation of Giant Gaseous Protoplanets by Gravitational Instability
Abstract
The recent discovery of a number of suspected extrasolar planets and brown dwarf stars prompts a reevaluation of the possible mechanisms for giant planet formation. A 3D hydrodynamics code is presently used to study the formation of giant planets through the gravitational instability of a protoplanetary disk. Giant gaseous protoplanets are shown to form in a moderately massive disk even when the perturbations behave adiabatically.
- Publication:
-
Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
- Pub Date:
- March 1997
- Bibcode:
- 1997LPI....28..137B
- Keywords:
-
- Gas Giant Planets;
- Protoplanets;
- Planetary Evolution;
- Gravitational Collapse;
- Brown Dwarf Stars;
- Extrasolar Planets;
- Three Dimensional Models;
- Hydrodynamic Equations;
- Perturbation Theory;
- Astrophysics;
- CHONDRULES: FORMATION;
- INSTABILITY: GRAVITATIONAL;
- PLANETS: GIANT;
- SOLAR NEBULA;
- SPIRAL DENSITY WAVES