protoplanetary disk
Americannoun
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A rotating disk of dust and gas that surrounds the core of a developing solar system. It may eventually develop into orbiting celestial bodies such as planets and asteroids.
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See more at planetesimal
Other Word Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This so-called protoplanetary disk looks like a butterfly in the images, according to Monsch.
From Seattle Times • May 14, 2024
It might just be an unlayered conglomeration of grains assembled in a metal-rich region of the protoplanetary disk of gas and dust surrounding the young Sun.
From Science Magazine • Oct. 13, 2023
The team found that DG Taurus has a smooth protoplanetary disk, without any rings which would indicate that planets are forming.
From Science Daily • Oct. 6, 2023
As central stars form, the remainder of the cloud flattens into a whirling protoplanetary disk that weaves together worlds from turbulent swirls of gas, ice and dust.
From Scientific American • Jun. 19, 2023
Together with his colleagues, Tomohiro Yoshida, from the University for Advanced Studies in Japan, began to study the "closest" protoplanetary disk we know about.
From Space Scoop • Jan. 30, 2023
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
