Definition of protoplanet
: a hypothetical whirling gaseous mass within a giant cloud of gas and dust that rotates around a sun and is believed to give rise to a planet
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Recent Examples of protoplanet from the Web
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Therefore, the meteorite diamonds reveal information about their parent protoplanet.
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The diamonds themselves may have been larger until the protoplanet was destroyed.
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The diamond pieces inside the meteorite hold a compelling record of these protoplanets and their collisions, according to the study.
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The protoplanet in question may have originated in the outer solar system and migrated inward to the inner solar system.
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As Sarah Gibbens at National Geographic reports, in the first 10 million years of our planetary family, swarms of protoplanets composed of rock, dust and gas likely pinballed around the sun.
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In the study, a research team found that the Almahata Sitta meteorite once belonged to a protoplanet, one of tens of early worlds that experienced impacts and buildups to ultimately create the rocky planets in our solar system.
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That's because astronomers think swarms of protoplanets — balls of gas, dust, and rock about the size of Mercury or Mars — once swirled around our young sun.
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Scientists have found the first hard evidence of a large and ancient protoplanet embedded in extraterrestrial diamonds that fell to Earth about 10 years ago.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'protoplanet.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of protoplanet
1949
Learn More about protoplanet
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Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about protoplanet
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