Skip to content
Synestia
EntityQ30916732· pop 10· linked from 172 articles

thumb|Artistic impression A synestia is a hypothesized structure for the debris field generated by the collision of planets: a rapidly spinning doughnut-shaped mass of vaporized rock. The term was coined in 2017 by Sarah T. Stewart-Mukhopadhyay, taken from Hestia, goddess of the hearth, combined with syn- meaning together. In computer simulations of giant impacts of rotating objects, a synestia can form if the total angular momentum is greater than the co-rotational limit. Beyond the co-rotational limit, the velocity at the equator of a body would exceed the orbital velocity.

Wikidata facts

Image
Synestia artistic recreation-bpk.jpg

via Wikidata · CC0

~3 min read

Article

5 sections
Contents
  • Composition
  • Giant-impact hypothesis
  • See also
  • Notes and references
  • External links

thumb|Artistic impression A synestia is a hypothesized structure for the debris field generated by the collision of planets: a rapidly spinning doughnut-shaped mass of vaporized rock. The term was coined in 2017 by Sarah T. Stewart-Mukhopadhyay, taken from Hestia, goddess of the hearth, combined with syn- meaning together. In computer simulations of giant impacts of rotating objects, a synestia can form if the total angular momentum is greater than the co-rotational limit. Beyond the co-rotational limit, the velocity at the equator of a body would exceed the orbital velocity.

In the case of a synestia, the result is an inner region rotating at a single rate with a loosely connected torus orbiting beyond it. Synestias also have differences in the mantles, both thermally and in their composition, from previous terrestrial evolution models due partially to a lower interior pressure.

Available in 10 languages

via Wikidata sitelinks · CC0

Connections

Categories