In her free time, she homeschools her four children. Follow her on Twitter at @NolaTRedd. Scientists continue to study planets in and out of our solar system in an effort to better understand which of these theories most accurately describes how the solar system and its planets formed. The same theory that creates them smashes them apart before they ever reach planetismal size. Learn more about exoplanets and alternative theories and ideas that have been proposed for planet formation, with Exoplanets and Alien Solar Systems. A cosmic magnifying glass: What is gravitational lensing? Core accretion is still the popular theory for explaining the formation of Jupiter and other planets in our solar system, says Boss. In this model a An artistic conception of the early Earth-moon system showing the Earth's surface after being bombarded with large impacts, causing magma extrusion on the surface, though some liquid water was retained. Scientists have two competing but viable theories about planet formation. . And farther away from the sun, the solar wind had less of an impact on lighter elements which allowed these elements to coalesce into gas giants. Gravity pulls these particles together and builds on these particles to form planetesimals. the stars form from accretion, so do the planets. On the other hand, disk instability theory, best explains the creation of these giant planets. It is important to remember that the force responsible for all of this is gravity. The dust is initially microscopic but eventually collisions and aggregation are supposed to produce centimeter-sized grains. A planet's core is hot because of residual heat of formation, or The same theory that creates them has them crashing into each other at very high speeds. //-->,