Image Details
Caption: Figure 2.
The proposed unified formation scenario of planetesimals, including TNOs, comets, asteroids, and observed compact dust aggregates. First, 0.1 μm sized dust grains coagulate and grow into dust aggregates, and then the first-generation planetesimals composed of dust aggregates form. The first-generation planetesimals include TNOs, MBAs, the parent bodies of NEAs including Ryugu and Bennu, and the parent bodies of comets. In this case, NEAs and comets are fragments or rubble piles of the first-generation planetesimals. Second, some of the first-generation planetesimals fragment into observed compact dust aggregates. Then, compact dust aggregates coagulate and grow into aggregates of compact dust aggregates, and then the second-generation planetesimals composed of aggregates of compact dust aggregates form. The second-generation planetesimals include NEAs and comets.
© 2024. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.