A duck. A top is spinning. A couple of pancakes. Astronomers have observed a number of shapes across the solar system.
Smaller parts of the solar system, such as asteroids and comets, come in different shapes. But why is that?
A researcher who studies asteroids at the University of Arizona said it all comes down to mass and gravity. If you have enough mass, gravity is going to dominate your shape.
The planets in the solar system are on the same plane.
When a structure gets big, gravity pulls everything toward the center of mass. The spherical shape is created by the force of gravity.
There are asteroids, comets, and other small bodies of the solar system. After the planets swept up most of the solar system's original material, these objects are made up of leftovers. These small bodies are too small for gravity to affect their shape.
Other factors come into play with no shaping. Springmann said that some asteroids are lumpier and less round because they crashed into each other. The Arrokoth is shaped like two pancakes. Scientists think that Arrokoth formed from two objects slowly twirling around each other until they collided and stuck together.
The asteroids are diamond shaped. Their shapes are a result of their geological makeup. The two asteroids are piles of gravel. The force of the van der Waals attracts particles together. The asteroids are shaped like diamonds because of how they absorb and emit radiation from the sun.
There is a comet that is shaped like a rubber duck. Springmann said that comets come in weird shapes because they are made mostly of ice. When comets get close to the sun, the ice sublimates and becomes gas, which causes a coma.
On the comet's surface, those jets can form all sorts of structures. You have all these active surface geology processes going on, which result in some weird surface shapes, like cracks and fissures.
Scientists think that 67P was formed when two objects collided and stuck together.
It was originally published on Live Science.
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