Our solar system’s origins

Over time, many philosophers and astronomers have sought to understand how the solar system formed and evolved. A recent conjecture suggests traveling waves, which arise due to interactions between interstellar gas clouds and nearby celestial objects, may be responsible for the formation of planetoids and, eventually, planets.

Mayer Humi theoretically explored the possible existence of these traveling waves and their role in planetoid formation. The author used equations to model their emergence within an evolving interstellar gas cloud.

These equations showed quantitatively that the mass density of a traveling wave increases rapidly with gravitational strength, then peaks at the wave crest. This mass density maximum is where the formation of larger aggregates may be initiated, as it provides an opportunity for embedded solid particles to coalesce.

“Based on solid theoretical foundations I was able to show analytically that such waves might exist within an interstellar gas cloud, and at the crest of these waves larger aggregates such as cometary nuclei might form,” said Humi. “The work brings new insights and new foundations for the formation of the solar system and similar exoplanetary systems.”

These findings line up with widely accepted proposed mechanisms of planet formation, which posit that solids begin to aggregate and form larger planetoids at the pressure maxima of protoplanetary disks, which are dense disks of gas and dust surrounding different types of stars.

Next, the author will investigate the subsequent processes that lead to the formation of planets. They also plan to study the future evolution of our solar system, especially the Earth-Moon system.

Source: “Traveling waves in an evolving interstellar gas cloud,” by Mayer Humi, Journal of Mathematical Physics (2023). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0127453 .