Growth and Form of Planetary Seedlings: Results from a Microgravity Aggregation Experiment
J. Blum, G. Wurm, S. Kempf, T. Poppe, H. Klahr, T. Kozasa, M. Rott, T. Henning, J. Dorschner, Schrä, R. pler, H. U. Keller, W. J. Markiewicz, I. Mann, B. A. Gustafson, F. Giovane, D. Neuhaus, H. Fechtig, Grü, E. n, B. Feuerbacher, H. Kochan, L. Ratke, A. El Goresy, G. Morfill, S. J. Weidenschilling, G. Schwehm, K. Metzler, W. H. Ip;
PhRvL, 2000, 85, 2426
ABSTRACT:The outcome of the first stage of planetary formation, which is characterized by ballistic agglomeration of preplanetary dust grains due to
Brownian motion in the free molecular flow regime of the solar nebula, is still
somewhat speculative.
We performed a microgravity experiment flown onboard
the space shuttle in which we simulated, for the first time, the onset of
free preplanetary dust accumulation and revealed the structures and
growth rates of the first dust agglomerates in the young solar system.
We find
that a thermally aggregating swarm of dust particles evolves very rapidly
and forms unexpected open-structured agglomerates.
PERSOKEY:dust, size distribution, ,
CODE: blum2000