Formation of Planetesimals in the Outer Solar System

TL;DR

This paper reviews models and observational data related to how planetesimals formed in the outer Solar System, shedding light on early planetary growth and system architecture.

Contribution

It synthesizes recent observational constraints with theoretical models to advance understanding of planetesimal formation in the outer Solar System.

Findings

Models of planetesimal formation are consistent with recent observations.

Observational data constrains initial conditions of planetesimal formation.

Refined theories improve understanding of planetary system architecture.

Abstract

The Solar System hosts the most studied and best understood major and minor planetary bodies - and the only extraterrestrial bodies to have been visited by spacecraft. The Solar System therefore provides important constraints on both the initial stages of planetary growth, communicated to us by its surviving planetesimal populations, and for the final result of the planet formation process represented by the architecture of the system and properties of the individual planets. We review here models of planetesimal formation in the outer Solar System as well as the wealth of recent observational constraints that has been used to formulate and refine modern planetesimal formation theory.