View Single Post
  #5  
Old October 4th 03, 11:33 PM
Trakar
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hubble Uncovers Smallest Moons Yet Seen Around Uranus

On 03 Oct 2003 11:49:06 -0500, (Gordon D.
Pusch) wrote:

Gas-giant planets and "terrestrial" planest are believed to form by
different physical mechanisms. "Terrestrial" planets are believed
to form by collisional accretion of "planetesimals," whereas "gas giant"
planets are believed to form by accretion from a sub-disk embedded within
the main protoplanetary disk that itself resembles a "mini solar system."


Could you reference a good site (web, book, or paper) on this for me?
I was under the general impression that it was a similar process, that
it was just a matter of there being greater gasseous material to
accumulate in the region of gas-giant formation.