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In General

• How do we think the solar system formed?
• How many stars are in our solar system?
• Is our theory of solar system formation evolutionary or catastrophic?
• Why are all planets orbiting the Sun approximately in the same plane?
• Why are all planets orbiting the Sun in the same direction?
• Why is the core of the Sun hot?

Stages

• What is a protostar? When can we say that it has turned into a star?
• What is a planetesimal?
• What is a protoplanet? What turns it into a planet?
• What does "differentiation" mean in the solar system?
• What happens during the process of condensation?
• What happens during the process of fragmentation?
• What happens during the process of accretion?
• Why don't the terrestrial planets have as much hydrogen and helium as everyone else?
• Why are the inner solar system planets so different from the outer ones?
• Why did Venus and Mars evolve differently from Earth?
• Where do we think that the water on Earth came from?
• What role did the solar wind play in the early solar system?

Observation

• When did the solar system form? How do we know?
• How do we know that other stars had existed before the Sun formed?
• What kind of telescope would you use to look for star-forming regions in space?