Solmysteriet

The big mystery is how these little meter-sized boulders start to coalesce into planetary sized bodies. One theory is, in terms of the Sun’s formation, is that there might have been a shock-wave from a nearby supernova that might have forced some of the material together and set off this chain reaction – but how we go from meter sized boulders into bodies that are tens of kilometres across is a bit of a mystery because in theory there are incredibly high gas pressures around them and it’s very turbulent – they should have just been sucked into the Sun, but they obviously weren’t because we’re here and we’re talking.

One of the theories is that there were lower pressure areas that might have protected these boulders long enough for them to coalesce into the larger bodies and not get sucked into the Sun.