Iron planet
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2010) |
| This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (August 2010) |
An iron planet is a type of planet that consists primarily of an iron rich core with little or no mantle. Mercury is the largest celestial body of this type[citation needed] in our solar system, but larger iron-rich exoplanets may exist.
Origin
Iron-rich planets may be the remnants of normal metal/silicate rocky planets whose rocky mantles were stripped away by giant impacts. Current planet formation models predict iron-rich planets will form in close-in orbits or orbiting massive stars where the protoplanetary disk presumably consists of iron rich material.[1]
Characteristics
Iron-rich planets are smaller and more dense than other types of planets of comparable mass.[2] Such planets would have no plate tectonics or strong magnetic field as they cool rapidly after formation.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Characteristics of Terrestrial Planets" by John Chambers, from "The Great Planet Debate: Science as Process", August 14–16, 2008, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Kossiakoff Center, Laurel, MD. http://gpd.jhuapl.edu/abstracts/abstractFiles/chambers_abstract.pdf
- ^ http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/2476/all-planets-possible
 | This extrasolar-planet-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |