How nature builds planets

© Matthijs van der Wiel / Stip Media

With thousands of exoplanets having been discovered in the past few decades, it is now beyond doubt that planets are extremely common. In fact, almost every star must have at least one planet. But how does nature manage to construct systems of planets around all these stars with such incredible efficiency?

This month's issue of the popular science journal Zenit features a set of articles (in Dutch) focussed on the planet formation theme. The articles describe the physical processes involved in building planets, how we use astronomical observations and historical evidence hidden in meteorites to inform and update theories, and where Earth's water may have come from.

The authors of the articles are Elishevah van Kooten (Institute de Physique du Globe de Paris), Inga Kamp (Kapteyn Insitute, University of Groningen), and Matthijs van der Wiel (ASTRON).