Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Space

Did great balls of fire form the planets?

By David Shiga

15 July 2009

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Explosive collisions of giant, radioactive magma balls may have made the planets (Illustration: sgeier)

ASTEROID-SIZED balls of magma hurtled through our infant solar system, and spray from their many collisions provided much of the raw material that formed Earth and its rocky siblings. That’s according to a new take on an old theory that challenges the notion that the as a placid sea of dust motes which simply clumped together to form planets.

The early family tree of our solar system’s rocky planets features tiny glassy spheres called , found today inside ancient meteorites. The…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with Âé¶¹´«Ã½ events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, today with our introductory offers

or

Existing subscribers

Sign in to your account
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop