planetesimal hypothesis

/ (ˌplænɪˈtɛsɪməl) /


noun
  1. the discredited theory that the close passage of a star to the sun caused many small bodies (planetesimals) to be drawn from the sun, eventually coalescing to form the planets

Origin of planetesimal hypothesis

1
C20: planetesimal, from planet + infinitesimal

Words Nearby planetesimal hypothesis

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use planetesimal hypothesis in a sentence

  • Let us now inquire briefly into the bearing of this planetesimal hypothesis upon the early geological history of the earth.

    Geology | William J. Miller
  • But the planetesimal hypothesis has no room for this enormous percentage of carbon-dioxide in the primitive atmosphere.

    The Story of Evolution | Joseph McCabe
  • Such, then, is the mechanism of the first phase in the history of a spiral nebula according to the planetesimal hypothesis.

    Curiosities of the Sky | Garrett Serviss