Formation Graph (IMAGE)

Southwest Research Institute

Formation Graph

Caption

Observations of the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth suggest it formed from an assembly of similarly sized objects, brought together at low speeds in a local area undergoing gravitational collapse. These findings support the streaming instability model of planetesimal formation and are described in a new study led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Planetary Scientist and Associate Vice President Dr. Alan Stern.

Credit

New Horizons/NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI/James Tuttle Keane

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