15.Formation+Of+The+Solar+System

=**AJ Essex & Ashley Fullmer **=

15. Formation of the Solar System (when, how, how do scientists know, do other solar systems exist?)

=** When: 5-4.6 billion years ago. **=

=** How: Scientists believe that the solar system was created by a supernova. This caused waves in space that squeezed the dust cloud which caused the cloud to collapse. Then the cloud grew hotter and denser and thinner yet cools at the edges. Some of the particles in the cloud clumped together and grew to form planets and moons. Towards the center, only rocky material could form planets. Towards the edges, icy and rocky material could clump together. Eventually the center grew so hot that it became a star, the sun. **= == =Example of a Supernova= = = =** How Scientists Know: Through meteorites, which are thought to be left over from the early phase of the solar system. Through meteorites is also how scientists discovered the age of the solar system. **= = = = = =** Other Solar Systems? : There are other solar systems beyond our own, but we cannot tell for sure if those systems have orbiting planets. **= ==