Snowman-Shaped Kuiper Belt Object Reveals a Quiet Route to Planet Formation
TL;DR Summary
A new study shows Arrokoth-like bilobed objects can form directly from the gravitational collapse of small pebbles in the early solar system, producing the snowman shape without violent mergers and suggesting such binaries may be more common in the Kuiper Belt; simulations found several instances of this outcome, supporting a calmer path to planet formation.
- NASA’s Latest Mission Just Unveiled a Mysterious Object with an Unbelievable Shape The Daily Galaxy
- Mystery of snowman-shaped space objects cracked The Guardian
- Why This Region of Space Appears to Be Populated by Snowmen Nautilus | Science Connected
- The Kuiper Belt is packed with weird peanut-shaped objects. Astronomers think they know why Scientific American
- There are lots of strange 'snowmen' in the outer Solar System. Scientists may have worked out how they formed BBC Sky at Night Magazine
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