How to Use planetesimal in a Sentence

planetesimal

noun
  • The planetesimals forming in this region were composed of not just rock and metal but these ices as well.
    — Adam Lark, Scientific American, 28 June 2026
  • The planetesimals forming in this region were composed of not just rock and metal but these ices as well.
    — Adam Lark, The Conversation, 16 June 2026
  • This merging occurred even as planetesimals were forming from dust.
    — Linda T. Elkins-Tanton, Scientific American, 1 Dec. 2016
  • If this planetesimal was once Earth-like, as Manser believes, the outcome is bleak.
    — Catherine Zuckerman, National Geographic, 4 Apr. 2019
  • With such a short orbital period, the researchers expect the planetesimal to sit very near its host star.
    — Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 5 Apr. 2019
  • The largest of these planetesimals grow faster than the ones around them and swallow their neighbors to grow into proto-planets.
    — Simon Lock, Scientific American Blog Network, 9 June 2017
  • In order for the theory to work, planetesimals had to be huge, and this family was one of the biggest.
    — Andrew Wagner, Science | AAAS, 3 Aug. 2017
  • Other research found that one in 10 to one in four planetesimals may be contact binaries.
    — Charles Q. Choi, Space.com, 26 Feb. 2026
  • Beyond the orbit of Neptune lie icy building blocks from the dawn of the solar system known as planetesimals.
    — Charles Q. Choi, Space.com, 26 Feb. 2026
  • Enough grist to form a massive ring could have only been supplied billions of years ago, when the early solar system was chock full of planetesimals.
    — Paul Voosen, Science | AAAS, 12 Dec. 2017
  • Its uniform color, smooth surface and how the lobes came together help piece together a picture of how the planetesimal came to be.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 13 Feb. 2020
  • Their first line of evidence that the space rock was a chunk of what was originally a large planetesimal came from the size of the diamonds themselves.
    — Deborah Netburn, latimes.com, 17 Apr. 2018
  • Dust grains grew into pebbles, and pebbles became world-building planetesimals.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 26 June 2017
  • The cloud is believed to appear as a shell of planetesimals — a small celestial body or planet — that surrounds the solar system.
    — Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 24 Feb. 2025
  • This location in the center of the solar system was warm, so the planetesimals were made mostly of the rocks and metals that could withstand the heat.
    — Adam Lark, The Conversation, 16 June 2026
  • This location in the center of the solar system was warm, so the planetesimals were made mostly of the rocks and metals that could withstand the heat.
    — Adam Lark, Scientific American, 28 June 2026
  • Studying Arrokoth can shed light on how the building blocks of planets, called planetesimals, formed in our solar system.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 13 Feb. 2020
  • Asteroids formed from planetesimals in the inner portions of the solar system, near the Sun.
    — Adam Lark, Scientific American, 28 June 2026
  • Asteroids formed from planetesimals in the inner portions of the solar system, near the Sun.
    — Adam Lark, The Conversation, 16 June 2026
  • These are thought to be fragments of the cores of planetesimals that formed early in the Solar System's history.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 17 June 2017
  • In the new study, researchers instead modeled planetesimals as clouds of particles resting on each other's surfaces.
    — Charles Q. Choi, Space.com, 26 Feb. 2026
  • However, the planetesimals that did not form into the Jovian planets were left to travel through the solar system as comets.
    — Adam Lark, Scientific American, 28 June 2026
  • However, the planetesimals that did not form into the Jovian planets were left to travel through the solar system as comets.
    — Adam Lark, The Conversation, 16 June 2026
  • The most massive objects in the disk are called planetesimals, and their locations are shaped by interactions with other planets in the system.
    — Meredith A. MacGregor, Scientific American, 19 May 2020
  • The team categorizes the object as a planetesimal, because of its relatively small size.
    — Catherine Zuckerman, National Geographic, 4 Apr. 2019
  • In the chaotic environment of our young solar system, small rocky and icy bodies called planetesimals crashed into one another at high speed.
    — Stefanie Waldek, Space.com, 27 Aug. 2025
  • The paper interprets this additional source as a dust cloud produced by a recent impact between two planetesimals.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 20 Dec. 2025
  • Specifically, the disks are seen around nearby young stars and contain gas, dust, and planetesimals which combine to form developing planets.
    — Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 12 Apr. 2018
  • The belt might have come from parts of other planets that still exist, or be part of a planetesimal — which is like a baby planet — that never completely formed before being smashed apart.
    — Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 28 Jan. 2021
  • The authors suggest 'Oumuamua was born in its home planetary system as a water-rich planetesimal, resembling a comet.
    — Conor Feehly, Discover Magazine, 20 Apr. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'planetesimal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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