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Nebular hypothesis

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The following discussion is an archived discussion of the TFAR nomination of the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page unless you are renominating the article at TFAR. For renominations, please add {{collapse top|Previous nomination}} to the top of the discussion and {{collapse bottom}} at the bottom, then complete a new {{TFAR nom}} underneath.

The result was: scheduled for Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 5, 2014 by BencherliteTalk 13:27, 21 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

In cosmogony, the nebular hypothesis is the most widely accepted model explaining the formation and evolution of the Solar System. The hypothesis offers explanations for a variety of properties of the Solar System, including the nearly circular and coplanar orbits of the planets, and their motion in the same direction as the Sun's rotation. According to the hypothesis, Sun-like stars form over the course of around a hundred million years, in massive, gravitationally unstable clouds of molecular hydrogen (giant molecular clouds). Matter coalesces to smaller, denser clumps within, which then proceed to both rotate and collapse, forming stars. Star formation always produces a gaseous protoplanetary disk around the young star, which may give birth to planets in certain circumstances, which are not well known. The formation of planetary systems is thought to be a natural result of star formation, with dense terrestrial planets forming closer to the star and colder giant planets forming further away, beyond the so-called frost line. Originally applied only to our own Solar System, the nebular hypothesis is now thought to be at work throughout the universe. (Full article...)