AST101H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Flattening, Spectroscopy, Solar Wind

• School: UTSG
• Department: Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Course: AST101H1
• Professor: Michael Reid

Document Summary

Clues of formation point to a common origin for the sun, planets, moons, asteroids and comets that orbit it. If the hypothesis fails to explain one of the 4 features, then it cannot be correct. If it explains all 4, then we can assume that we are on the right track. A theory can gain support if it makes predications that are borne out by new observations or experiments. 18th century scientists proposed hypothesis that blossomed into our theory for the origin of the solar system. Immanuel kant and pierre-simon laplace proposed out solar system formed from the gravitational collapse of an interstellar cloud of gas (or nebula) = the nebular hypothesis. The close encounter hypothesis (= the planets formed from blobs of gas that had gravitationally pulled out of the sun during a near-collision with another star) competed with the nebular hypothesis.