The Formation of Uranus and Neptune
In a paper to be published in the planetary astronomy journal called Icarus, available online now here, astronomers explore the formation of the gas giant planets Uranus and Neptune. These astronomers point out that there is a difficulty explaining the location of these planets and their characteristics using the standard nebular hypothesis, unless both of these planets had migrated “outward after their formation in solid-rich feeding zones with planetesimal surface densities well above the minimum-mass solar nebula.” If correct, astronomy textbooks will need to be revised to better explain the formation of our solar system.