Tiny Pebbles Built the Gas Giant Behemoths

astroengine writes: Scientists have long puzzled over how gas planets like Jupiter and Saturn got to be so big. Current theories suggest the cores of these behemoths are comprised of mini-planets, some 62- to 620 miles in diameter, which collided and gradually merged together over time. But computer simulations show this process is more likely to produce hundreds of Earth-sized worlds. Instead, a new study suggests "slow pebble accretion" is a more likely process.

Comments

Re:Magnetism

[The Evil Atheist]

Magnetized protoplanetary matter, how do they work?

Clarity

[jbmartin6]

Ohhhhh, sixty TWO miles! That's why my gas giant never worked!

Re:Magnetism

[Overzeetop]

When two planets truly love one another...