Question

b) Explain how the three debris fields (i.e., Main Asteroid Belt, Kuiper Belt, and Oort Cloud) formed in the Solar System. c) Explain the planetary accretion process whereby the planets in the Solar System formed.

Answer 1

Solution B)

Asteroid Belt : The Asteroid Belt consists of hundreds of thousands of rocks, with all kinds of different shapes, ranging in size from the Dwarf Planet Ceres at 950 Km in Diameter, down to small bits the size of dust particles. It lies between Mars and Jupiter.

Formation - when our solar system was being formed, a tenth planet tried to form between Mars and Jupiter. However, Jupiter s gravitational forces were too strong, so the material was unable to form a planet. Even if a planet had formed it wouldnt have been anything write about . It is estimated that if you put all the asteroid into the solar system into one body thwy would form an object less than half the size of moon.

Kuiper Belt : The Kuiper Belt (pronounced Kai-per) consists of Icy rocks, and it a major source of short-period Comets in the Solar system. Extending beyond the planet Neptune, Pluto was discovered to be one of the largest objects in the belt.

Formation - When the solar system formed, much of the gas, dust and rocks pulled together to form the sun and planets. The planets then swept most of the remaining debris into the sun or out of the solar system

Oort Cloud : Oort cloud is a collection of Comets, thought to extend far beyond the planets of the Solar System. the Oort comets are distributed spherically about the Sun, possibly extending as far as half way to the next star. The Oort orbits are not regular or planar like the Asteroid and Kuiper belts, and are often perturbed through gravitational interactions during their long journeys on highly eccentric orbits.

Formation : The Oort Cloud is roughly spherical, and is thought to be the origin of most of the long-period comets that have been observed. This cloud of particles is theorized to be the remains of the disc of material that formed the Sun and planets.