Planetary Formation in the News

Planetary formation made the news in three different ways this week. Find out how surprising results from studies of a meteorite, a debris field and the planet Venus all shed new light on our own planet’s deep history.

Back in public school, everyone in my class had an oversized atlas in our desks with a blue-black cover. On the cover was a map of solar system, from the Sun all the way out to Pluto, tracing the elliptical orbit of each planet in light blue.

The world was caught up in the Space Race at the time, and planets were a hot topic. TV shows like Star Trek and Lost in Space reinforced our youthful fascination with worlds beyond Earth.

We take the existence of other planets for granted in the 21st century. We say things like, “he looked at me as if I was from another planet” as if we know what people from other planets are like.

Astronomers Have Now Discovered Over 5,000 Planets

Our matter-of-fact attitude isn’t surprising, since astronomers have now discovered over 5,000 planets in our galaxy. What’s remarkable is how little we know about how planets form.