Open AccessWhat Can Meteorites Tell Us About the Formation of Jupiter?
Author(s) -
Weiss Benjamin P.,
Bottke William F.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
agu advances
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2576-604X
DOI - 10.1029/2020av000376
Subject(s) - jupiter (rocket family) , meteorite , formation and evolution of the solar system , astrobiology , solar system , planet , astrophysics , physics , astronomy , accretion (finance) , geology , spacecraft
Gas giants like Jupiter are a fundamental component of planetary systems, but how they formed has been uncertain. Here we discuss how paleomagnetic records in meteorites of the solar nebula may tell us about Jupiter's final growth stage. We suggest that under certain testable assumptions, the meteorite data indicate that proto‐Jupiter grew from a mass of ∼50 Earth masses ( M ⨁ ) at >3.46 million years (Ma) after solar system formation to its final mass of 318 M ⊕ over just <0.5 Ma. This rapid acceleration is consistent with a key prediction of the core accretion model for giant planet formation.